The Knife and the Turncoat
by Mr.Vaz
Summary: Tali is torn between her feelings for the commander and the gravity of a horrible mistake, while Miranda comes to terms with the organization that she's championed for years. Follow-up to Levi Matthews' "Finding a Way". M!Shepard/Tali
1. Prologue: The Lost Cause

**Note from the author:  
This story is a follow-up to _Finding a Way_ by Levi Matthews. I highly recommend reading it if you have the time.  
s/5705653/1/Finding_a_Way  
If you don't, there is a short summary that'll get you up to speed at the end of this prologue.**

**This story contains spoilers for __****_Mass Effect 2_****, its associated DLC****,**** and**___Mass Effect_.

**_Mass_ _Effect_ is property of Bioware, who deserves all credit for creating the universe, characters, and games. _Finding a Way_ was written by Levi Matthews and all credit for the story up to this point not claimed by Bioware goes to him.**

* * *

Prologue: The Lost Cause

An electronic warble echoes around the courtyard, the ancient sun-bleached stone walls raging with the cacophony of tones and clicks. A lone figure stood by a column, careful to keep in the shade as it reached behind its back. The walls instantly took note, silencing themselves as the figure slowly brought a weapon to bear. The figure, fully aware of the omniscient presence, took a moment to steady her breath as she felt the walls' impending wrath bearing down upon her. One of the three fingers on her right hand began a mild tremor, but she willed it to stop.

No sense in losing her nerve now.

She knew she was being watched, that it was only a matter of time before the walls unleashed their fury. She knew that in mere moments, the forces around her could rend her very molecules apart in less time than she could blink. But she relished the quiet moments before the charge, knowing all too well that a single screw-up could end her in a way that most other species would have considered laughable. She had grown to appreciate every breath of heavily filtered air that she took when not surrounded by enemy fire. Her travels, which had taken her through more parts of hell than most trained warriors, let alone engineers, had taught her that much. For what felt like the millionth time, she wished that he was there by her side again.

She knew that he would not, _could __not__,_ have gotten there in time to help her again. Today would not be like the numerous times he had helped her out of tough situations when she had served under him, always the perfect shield to her shotgun's furious sword. Today would not be like where he had saved her from assassins on the Citadel, when only one other person that day had even acknowledged her presence without immediately sneering or protectively reaching for their pockets. Today would not be like when he had come to the rescue of her mutinous squad -what was left of it anyway- on Freedom's progress. Today would not be like all those times that he'd quietly listened with that slight grin as she had talked about her pre-pilgrimage life and her culture's history. He had been the only person who had ever seemed truly interested in the subject, though she liked to imagine that he was enamored by it.

Today she was alone.

One last breath. A last check that her suited finger to ensure that it was no longer twitching. The quarian then used it to press a button on the side of her shotgun, and it engaged to its full size with an almost too loud _schhick_ followed by a beep.

Immediately, the air around her cover became a fireworks display of blue and white sparks as the geth converged on her position. The deafening din of their electronic clicking returned to its full volume. She hacked one of the attackers, hoping to draw away fire as she aimed her Katana at another one that had had the misfortune of standing in front of its suddenly deranged ally. _One __down_, she thought as she pulled the trigger, finishing the job. A chorus of return fire punctuated her statement with an obvious "many to go". It wasn't long before her hacked ally was decimated by the others' combined fire.

As she took cover, the electronic clicking intensified again, but in a new manner. Their clicks layered over each other in a way she had never heard before, forming a single voice from their many discordant forms. "We wish to help you," the geth droned in an unnatural series of tones and beeps, their many voices uniting to form a monotone chorus.

"Don't listen to them," another voice called. "Give her some cover." Out of the corner of her eye, the quarian saw a squad laying down suppressing fire as a red and white suited quarian barked orders. "Watch out, they're flanking us!" Sure enough, a pair of rocket troopers had pinned them, allowing a crimson geth to sneak up unmolested. "Focus on that destroyer!" the leader finally yelled, but he was too late for most of his squad. All but one of his fellows was soon downed, either roasted alive in their suits by its flamethrower or falling victim to an explosion after its gas tank was ruptured.

"You're only hurting yourself," the unearthly voices chimed again. "Desist so we can help you."

"Can it!" the remaining green-suited squad member yelled, overloading one of the rocket troopers. "Tali, the shuttle's almost here. Kal and I have the data, so we can get off this planet as soon as it arrives."

The quarian nodded, using her own overload program on the remaining rocket trooper. "Let's give them hell Quala," she said.

"Tangoes incoming," Kal chimed. "We should to hole up here while we can." Before he'd finished his sentence, Tali was already sprinting over to her friends' position.

But something wasn't right.

The air seemed to shimmer behind Kal and Quala as Tali ran toward them. Tali shook her head, trying to clear the mist of perspiration that had accumulated in her visor.

The shimmer began to move closer to the two as she realized what was happening. "Hunter!" she yelled, drawing her pistol. She knew she wouldn't be able to down its shields in time though. Kal instantly got the message, moving toward Quala as the geth hunter deactivated its invisibility cloak. Its shotgun was overcharged, giving off a blue aura as the energy stored within yearned for liberation. He dived toward her, arms outstretched. The gun discharged as Kal's arms closed around Quala, and they fell to the ground, their bodies limp. Tali returned fire, her predator pistol's retort drowned out by her furious yells as the hunter's shields flared and died. An irritated beeping alerted her that her heat sink was full, and she drew her shotgun. Tali fired at the geth as she roared, "Get away from them you damn synthetic bosh'tet!.

The hunter cocked its head quizzically, the shot being too far away to have any significant effect.

She fired again.

The hunter made the geth's trademark set of unintelligible electronic sounds, as if angry that she was still attacking.

Tali fired a third time.

The hunter collapsed its weapon, throwing it into a slot on its back.

She blinked in surprise, then fired a fourth time, furious that it would attempt such underhanded tactics. Almost _organic_ tactics.

It reached out a hand as she fired a fifth time, the shots finally making visible dents in the geth's armor. "We're here to help you, Tali'Zorah."

"Help yourself!" she yelled, trading the overheated shotgun for the knife she'd kept in her left boot. Its straight blade shone bright in Dholen's light, thirsty for the geth's coolant and motor control fluid. She plunged the blade deep into the synthetic's chest armor, giving it a meaningful twist for good measure. "You certainly haven't helped me."

Again, the geth made the questioning look. "Tali," it replied, its voice losing the synthetic quality it had carried before, "I already have." Tali returned the look, only to be horrified as its "face" contorted into that of the one man she'd hoped to see. That of the one who had helped her countless times during their travels together on the Normandy. The one who had helped her believe that there was more to the galaxy at large than a bunch of racist aliens who looked down on her instinctively as a vagrant and thief.

The man she'd loved.

"John" she whispered, sinking to her knees by the fallen creature. He smiled, that same smile she had admired and yearned to see again for over two years. She was only dimly aware of the squad of geth walking up behind her as she began to weep. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry..." Tears welled in her eyes as she repeated the words, her mind too overloaded to do anything else.

"No, I'm sorry," Shepard managed before the lights left his blue eyes.

She screams in anguish as the geth squad opens fire.

* * *

"No!"

**Thud****!**

Tali'Zorah crashed back down on the bed just as quickly as she had attempted to sit upright, her hand instinctively grasping for where she had knocked her head -or, rather, her visor- on the bunk above her.

"Aye, they _are_ fine, aren't they?" a brown-haired human groggily mumbled from the bunk next to hers, his voice heavy with an accent that Tali didn't recognize.

"Shut up, Ken," another yawned from across the room, turning over in her sleep.

Tali shook her head, trying to cast off the things she'd just seen. _Of __course __it __was __a __dream__. __Just __a __horrible __dream__._ She lowered herself slowly back to the bed. _I __made __it __off __that __horrible __planet__. __And __in __the __Normandy__, __of __all __ships__._ She began to relax a little, preparing to fall back asleep. _Kal__'__Reegar __and __Quala__'__Oro __are __going __to __be __okay__, __thanks __to __Chakwas __and __the __salarian __doctor__._ She closed her eyes. _The __data __on __Haestrom__'__s __sun __was __safe__, __though __it __had __cost __too __many __good __soldiers __their __lives__. __And __John__..._

She nearly knocked the bunk above her for the second time in as many minutes. _Oh__, __Keelah__._ The salarian doctor, his name lost to Tali among the torrent of words that had surged from his mouth when he had finally been allowed to check on the quarians' health, had tried multiple times to make her feel better. "Twenty-one-hour combat situation in combination with early loss of resources and shelter and massacre of team members tragic, stressful. Situation highly conductive to hallucinations, difficulty in perceiving and trusting outside stimuli, triggers fight-or-flight response common to most sapient species. Decisions made from instinct, not what person would normally do, especially if not a lifelong soldier. Not responsible for actions, no matter how reprehensible, if not made with sound mind." He'd spun it many different ways in between administering antibiotics to Tali's friends and checking on Shepard's then-unconscious form, but it had only intensified the guilty feelings that had accumulated in her stomach.

She had been exhausted even before holing up in the bunker with a wounded Quala'Oro on Haestrom. The fact that the geth had sent everything they could to break the door, up to and including parking a colossus on the doorstep, had set her on-edge. She'd hallucinated, seeing ghostly visions of John Shepard and Kaiden Alenko, who had lost his life on Virmire. If it hadn't been for the pile of rubble that had overloaded her suit's built-in volume filters, she would have assumed that the geth drones that had flown in through the ventilation shaft had been figments of her starved and dehydrated imagination as well.

She couldn't hear as Shepard called for her. She didn't see that the bleached armor on the hand belonged to an organic. She couldn't feel the warmth as it touched her suit. All she'd known was that her defenses had been breached, her friends' fates uncertain, the mission a colossal failure. She had lashed out with the blade, burying it in the chest of the one man who had fought through a platoon of enemies for her. The man she'd longed to see again ever since he'd reappeared on Freedom's Progress, a living ghost.

She used up her last ounce of self-control by muting her suit's microphone before giving in to the tears, her head burying itself between her knees. Yes, he'd awoken and ensured she was allowed to stay on the Normandy. Yes, he had given her the greatest and most longed-for hug of her life as she'd sat in the shuttle, resigned to the fact she should never see him again. But all of that paled in the face of the one thing that refused to leave her mind.

"I don't deserve him," she sobbed, alone in her quiet corner of the universe.

* * *

**Note from the author:  
Okay, first the essentials:  
-Kasumi and Zaeed are loyal  
-Everyone except Legion, Thane, and Samara have been recruited; Tali was the most recent to join the crew  
-The most recently completed mission against the collectors was on Horizon  
-Wrex and Ashley survived the Virmire mission  
-The Council and the rachni queen were saved  
-Anderson was selected for the Council  
-Paragon-leaning colonist/war hero John Shepard  
-Shepard romanced Liara in _ME1_  
-Tali/John is the romantic focus of this story (Sorry if you were looking for a Tali/Miri fic)**

**The main viewpoints you'll see here are Tali's, John's, and Miranda's, though other squad members, major players, and surprise characters are given the spotlight here and there.**** (Squad members are people, too.)**

**I want to give a _HUGE_ thank-you to Levi Matthews for allowing me to continue his story. **

**Quala'Oro is an OC created by Levi Matthews for the story _Finding a Way _and is used by permission.**

******Go on.  
Read it.  
I dare you.  
You know you want to.  
[Waves hands fruitlessly, remembers Jedi mind tricks don't work over the Internet]  
D'oh!**


	2. Perfectly Fine

1: Perfectly Fine

John Shepard grunted as he stretched, willing himself to avoid scratching the itch that raged across his chest. He had just returned to the medical bay after a prolonged argument with Miranda Lawson just down the hall. Her actions deeply disturbed him, the fact that the Illusive Man would attempt to reclaim his vessel at a moment's notice causing him some disquiet. "Recommend you stop doing that," came a quick reply. "Easy to pop sutures, would not like to repeat complex medical procedures. Especially not when low on spare blood for patient."

Shepard sighed as he gave up on distracting himself through physical means, choosing instead to talk to the salarian doctor. "I thought we were still fully stocked before Haestrom, Mordin."

The salarian blinked at Shepard, a rare moment of pause. "True, but must emphasize past tense. Was fortunate to have ample supply at the time. Operation was... challenging. Will also need additional antibiotics appropriate for dextro species, current supply insufficient for quarian squad member's prolonged stay. Should thank Miss Goto for at least knowing which antibiotics to pilfer along with medigel during your operation. Likely saved Miss Oro's life with her actions. Nevertheless, recommend a supply run to the Citadel. Also," he added as he turned to his other patient, "recommend getting new armor; previous chestplate no longer adequate for battle."

_He __does __have __a __point __there__,_ Shepard mused to himself, glancing at the mangled, beaten, bleached, crushed, and bloody mess on the operating table next to him. "EDI," he directed his next words toward the ceiling, "tell Joker to set a course for the Citadel."

"Course change noted, commander," came the AI's cool reply. "We will be there in twelve hours' time."

"Thanks, EDI." Shepard looked over at Dr. Chakwas, who had started conversing with a white-and-red-suited quarian in the corner. Kal'Reegar had been the ranking officer when the commander had come to the rescue, and one of its only survivors. He then turned to Dr. Solus's patient: a green-suited quarian who was fast asleep from the effects of another cocktail of antibiotics coursing through her system. Quala'Oro had taken multiple wounds during the battle and was barely conscious when they found her locked in a room with Tali. _Tali..._ He found his thoughts drifting again to the quarian, who had gone straight to the crew's quarters after he'd overrode Miranda's order to deport the quarians at the earliest opportunity. _We __could __all __use __a __little __R__&__R __right __now__._

* * *

The Illusive Man gazed out at the dying star Anadius, distaste in his electric blue eyes. _Shepard __will __do __what __he __deems __necessary__,_ he thought to himself, _but __Miranda__..._

He allowed the thought to linger as he took a long drag on his cigarette. He was disappointed in her- one of his best operatives and leaders, but she wasn't able to maintain control of the Normandy for even two hours before half of Shepard's squad had mutinied against her. _If __she __survives __this __mission__, __there __will __definitely __be __some __changes __in __store __for __her__._ He exhaled as he noted a different shade of black against the darkness of the room. _But __this __one__, __however__, __is __growing __sharper __with __every __strike__._ "What do you have for me, Leng?"

The shadow within the shadows shifted, becoming a well-built man of Russo-Chinese descent. His dark eyes betrayed no emotion as he gazed toward the star. "Our Pragia facility, a remnant from Project Teltin, has had a security breach," he stated without diverting his gaze. "Evidently, the sensors were running on minimal power, only collecting enough energy to send a signal ten hours ago. Most useful data was purged years ago but the intruders could still find something... problematic for us."

The Illusive Man nodded, "You would like to take care of the problem yourself, I take it." He took a sip of his whiskey after perceiving the slightest of nods from the man, the assassin's gaze unwavering from the sight before him. _He __is __headstrong__, __capable__, __and __most __importantly __loyal__. __Perhaps __even __our __best __asset __right __now__._ He pulled up a report from Project Teltin on his vid-screen, eliciting an almost imperceptible flash across the assassin's eyes at the sudden obstruction of his view. The Illusive Man took another drag on his cigarette as he contemplated the data, his mind hard at work. _The __task __wouldn__'__t __be __particularly __difficult __for __him__, __but __there __are __plenty __of __unknowns__._ He slowly exhaled, the cloud of smoke billowing around his head like one of the ancient railway locomotives that had been used on Earth over two centuries before. _It __would __be __better __not __to __risk __him__, __especially __when __we __have __another __untapped __resource__._ "I have a better idea." he finally answered. "I want you to make a detour to the Citadel first."

"Sir?" A partially-raised eyebrow finally betrayed the assassin's stoic poker face.

"I want you to contact someone. I daresay you'll almost enjoy it as much as taking the intruders head-on."

Kai Leng finally allowed himself to grin, comprehension blooming across his face. "With pleasure, sir."

* * *

"You know, I could get you some lunch or show you the new omni-tools that came out. Heard there was one that makes the Savant IX look like the old Logic Arrest models."

Tali shook her head as she stepped out of the elevator and into the CIC. Garrus had been trying to make up for holding the quarians hostage ever since EDI had announced that they were headed for the Citadel. While she appreciated the gesture, the turian's apologies did nothing for her guilt. Besides, she already had plans.

"Sure was nice of the commander to let your friends stay a little longer though." Garrus wondered aloud, virtually in line with her train of thought.

"Yeah, Quala needed the extra observation time anyway. Her fever flared up again right after he left the docking bay." She sighed, willing herself to cheer up for her old friend's sake. "At least this way we can give them a proper send-off; Kasumi's already made reservations for us and everything."

The turian seemed momentarily put off by her statement. "Really? But that means we won't get to relive all those nice chats in the elevators. Remember, I'd rant a little about my days at C-Sec. You'd enlighten us all about your immune system. Wrex would complain about the genophage. Liara would talk about... all sorts of unpleasant things I have no shame in admitting I tuned out. It was like having our own little venting space."

"Remember how I always carried my shotgun?" The elevator ride in the new Normandy was already more than long enough for Tali, but the mention of Shepard's old flame caused her to add a bit more malice to her words than she had intended.

"Perhaps another time then," Garrus nervously chuckled as they neared the cockpit. "Still, if you swing by the bar, first round's on me."

Despite alcohol's qualities as a natural disinfectant, its use as more than such was far from encouraged among quarians. The vacuum of free time aboard the Flotilla had all but necessitated a fleetwide ban on alcohol, though pilgrims outside the Migrant Fleet were not chastised for becoming inebriated. All the same, old habits died hard for the admiral's daughter. _As_ _if __I__'__d __ever __do __something __as __reckless __as __drink __alcohol on a whim__,_ the quarian thought, but she nodded anyway.

"What's this I hear about Archangel buying us a round?" Zaeed Massani, his scarred eye gleaming in the low light of the ship, was already waiting at the airlock with Jacob Taylor and Grunt. "I'm sure our krogan friend here shouldn't have to buy himself his first ryncol," he said with a smirk.

"Sure, merc. So long as you're buying the next with all that money you got off of that poor guy in engineering."

"It's not my fault he's got such an obvious tell. Best poker face in the world won't save you if you giggle like a goddamn man-child every time you get a half-decent hand."

"Then let's be glad you weren't playing another round of hold-em while we were in the Dholen system," Security Chief Nicolas Glass chimed in as he walked up, his own heavily-scarred face contorted into a grin and his trademark stun baton noticeably absent for once. "I'd have hated to end your supply of pocket creds right before you bought us a round."

The men shared a hearty laugh as they walked into the airlock, the door closing behind them as the decontamination cycle kicked in. Tali stayed on the ship, however, having noticed a faint flicker in the air beside her. Kasumi deactivated her cloaking system. "I'm almost tempted to take Garrus up on that offer, but swiping a drink from under Zaeed's or Nick's mangled noses would be a bit too risky for my tastes."

Tali allowed herself a chuckle. "And what about Jacob's?"

"Well now," Kasumi began with a grin, "You're not the only hopeless roman-" She stopped as she saw Quala and Kal walk up, the green-suited quarian covering her lit mouthpiece with one hand as she shook her head. "Look, the rest of the gang's here!" she hastily added, getting the hint.

"Oh," Tali said, taking a mental step back from the emotional abyss that Kasumi had almost led her straight into. "I'm surprised you two are up and about, I heard you both got a secondary infection after John..." Her voice trailed off.

"...Allowed you guys to stick around." Kasumi finished for her, trying her best to keep the moment from lingering.

"Oh, it was a bit more than just an infection," Quala answered, her eyes lighting up. "You see, the commander decided to have a long chat with Miss Lawson and the security chief after visiting the launch bay. He went straight up to her room and took the docs with him, so we had the medbay all to ourselves for over an hour. With the docs gone and the privacy drapes still out, I decided to ask him if he remembered what he promised me on the shuttle ride back on Haes-" Kal cleared his throat loudly, his normally professional body language emanating waves of discomfort. "Sorry, Sergeant Reegar here considers the details 'classified'," Quala added, the rolling of her eyes apparent even through her opaque visor.

"Since when has that ever stopped you?" Tali chuckled, finally allowing herself to relax. "It took you all of ten seconds to 'break protocol' after you took him to the firing range."

The girls all shared a laugh at Kal's expense as the four of them stepped into the airlock.

* * *

Shepard frowned at the article in the catalog.

_The __Kestrel __armor __system __is __the __epitome __of __modern __combat __platforms__. __Boasting __amplified __shields __and __technology __that __amplifies __the __user__'__s __natural __musculature__, __the __Kestrel __allows __for __safe__* __battlefield __management __while __giving __the __user __an __increased __presence __in __melee __combat__. __Utilizing __a __personalized __prototype __VI __interface__, __the __Kestrel __allows __its __user __unprecedented __strength__, __speed__, __and __stamina __that __are __unrivaled __by __other __armor __interfaces__. __Each __model __is __custom__-__built __for __its __user __to __ensure __maximum __comfort __and __effectiveness__. __Price __available __upon __request__._

Money was no object to him. His accounts were still loaded from his adventures in the previous Normandy. He had to admit though, it wasn't the waiting list he'd be placed on that was truly bothering him. (_Six __months__? __I __tracked __down __Saren __in __four __and __this __one__'__s __shaping __up __to __be __done __even __sooner__._) It wasn't even Miranda's recent insubordination that bothered him, troubling enough though it was. No, it was Tali's behavior back in the launch bay that concerned him.

Shepard lost himself in the memory, remembering how he had rolled his wheelchair out to a wave of surprised faces when the elevator opened to the cargo hold.

_"Well now," he couldn't help but chuckle at the sight, despite his injuries, "looks like someone forgot to invite me to the party." He'd swept his eyes across the hold, noticing the conspicuous absence of the one quarian he wanted to talk to most. "Where is she?" he'd asked. Kasumi, whose jaw was evidently farthest from the floor, managed to point toward the shuttle._

_Shepard had sped toward the shuttle, the entourage of medics and soldiers around him forgotten. _

_She's here. Was she hurt? What happened after... _

_He hadn't dared to finish the thought. "Are you alright?" The words had tumbled out of his mouth before he'd even reached the open door._

_"Yeah, I'll be fine," the quarian had grunted, her voice distant and eyes closed._

_He had breathed a sigh of relief as he admired her form. _

_She's whole. No suit patches, nothing broken. Perfectly fine. _

_A grin had spread across his face at the thought. "Then come out of the shuttle, Tali'Zorah."_

_She'd jumped at his voice then, as if shocked that the voice's owner still existed. A small whisper had escaped her helmet as a tremor traveled down her arm. "John...?"_

_There she was, the same girl who was willing to postpone her pilgrimage for the sake of saving the galaxy with him. The courageous one who'd faced down impossible odds with him against an army of geth on Ilos. The selfless one who would have left the ship for the sake of keeping Shepard's crew from tearing itself apart mere hours before. _

_Perfectly fine. _

_He'd climbed out of the wheelchair. "Hey there friend, long time no see."_

_Her eyes had finally met his. "John, I... I..." she began to stammer in disbelief._

_He'd already climbed into the shuttle and embraced her. _

_Perfectly fine._

_Her voice had become softer as she held him. "John, I..."_

_"Shhh..." he shushed, pulling her closer. "It's okay Tali. I'm just glad you're okay."_

_Perfect._

_The word had stuck in his mind as they held each other, wishing that the moment would last until space itself collapsed around them. But just when he had thought that the doctors would have to perform another surgery to physically decouple them, a shadow had crossed Tali's luminous eyes. She'd released him, her suddenly downcast pearls focused everywhere but the commander. "I sent the data on Haestrom's sun to the fleet after we hit the relay," she murmured, her voice hollow as she withdrew her arms. "I'm free to join your crew now, if you'll have me."_

_Her sudden change in manner had caught Shepard off-guard. "Of course, I wouldn't have it any other way," he managed, his tone sincere._

_She'd nodded, seemingly trying to convince herself of something as a barely audible sigh escaped her helmet's speakers. "I'll get myself set up then, introduce myself to the engineering crew." Suddenly, she was up and out of the shuttle. Shepard's face had turned into one of surprise that would have rivaled any of the crew in the shuttle bay mere moments before as Tali sped over to the elevator and hit the call button._

_By the time he had exited the shuttle and climbed back into his wheelchair, she was already gone._

_But __why__?_

Shepard retracted himself from the memory, leaning back on his chair in the captain's quarters. He sighed, the reason behind Tali's change in attitude still eluding him. It left a bad taste in his mouth, as well as an unfamiliar pain in his stomach that rivaled his wounds from Haestrom: a feeling of helplessness. His thoughts drifted to Kaiden Alenko, and one of the times the soldier's ghost had spoken to him. The words haunted him, even more so now than when he had run into a geth platoon on Haestrom while trying to rescue her.

_"You have to save her, so that she can save you."_

He leaned forward in his seat, trying his best to ignore the itch that was returning to his chest. _How __can __I __save __her __if __I __don__'__t __even __know __what __I__'__m __saving __her __from__?_

* * *

Tali growled in frustration as she and Kal played a game Kasumi had referred to as "Rock, paper, scissors." Quarians' three-fingered hands, it had happened, were ill-suited for the game, leading to some rather confusing alterations to the rules.

"Oh, barriers block guns when you're on the Citadel, Tali," the human said in mock-sadness. "Looks like you're picking up the next round of drinks for us."

Tali shook her head. "I swear you're making this game up."

"Sorry, you should have said you wanted to play by Omega rules then," Kasumi replied, a mischievous glint in her eye.

"Don't fforget my Vaksseid," Quala slurred, botching the name of the turian liqueur as she clumsily rapped on her empty bottle. "Come on," she continued, noting Tali's distasteful look, "it'ss not like any sort of bacteria can survive in sixty persssent alcohol."

"Fine," Tali replied, turning away from the table. "Two waters, another sake, and an imminent trip to Huerta Memorial coming right up."

As soon as Tali was out of earshot, Quala sat up straight. "I take it you followed her out of the cargo hold?" she clearly directed at Kasumi, all signs of intoxication gone.

The thief nodded. "I guess I'm not the only girl with secret compartments on her person."

"Let me guess: she went straight to bed, woke up screaming, promptly curled up with her knees in her arms in complete silence, and stayed like that until the other engineers woke up."

Kasumi's eyes widened. "How did you-"

"Kas," Quala interrupted, "I've known her all her life."

Kal nodded in agreement. "Any quarian who can't learn their crew mates' habits is both a threat to their ship and a failure to the species."

"It'd be a disgrace if I couldn't tell you that she banged her head on the bunk above her when she woke up, let alone that she would have an emotional breakdown after what happened on Haestrom and the incidents with Garrus and Miranda," Quala finished.

Kasumi's shocked expression prompted another response: "You'd be surprised how many times _she_ cracked her visor when she was younger." She turned towards Kal, whose visor now bore a hairline crack along one side.

"You already disclosed what happened in the med bay, Quala." Kal didn't want to relive his embarrassment once more.

Kasumi nodded again, remembering how Tali hadn't jumped in surprise when she'd de-cloaked next to her by the airlock earlier. "She's going to need some support, but I'm sure Shepard would-"

"Try to cheer her up?" Quala laughed bitterly. "Oh, I'm sure he would _love_ to, but Tali's in the middle of a guilt trip longer than the scenic route from Omega to Palaven. She's going to avoid him as much as she can for the next several days, if not weeks."

_Damn__,_ the human thought. "So what are we going to do about it? She needs someone who'll help her keep her spirits up, especially now. Someone's going to have to make sure she doesn't have a mid-mission meltdown and keep the doubters on the squad off her back."

This time it was Kal who spoke up first. "Actually, since 'we' have to return to the fleet, we hoped you would do that for us."

Kasumi blinked in surprise as he began to elaborate. "Despite your commander's boundless hospitality, we're still obligated to return to the fleet. Because of Tali's past adventures with Shepard and the fact that her father and surrogate aunt are both on the Admiralty Board, she'll definitely be allowed to stay on the Normandy."

Quala sighed glumly as she finished his statement. "Kal and I aren't so lucky."

The thief raised an eyebrow. "I wouldn't call you guys unlucky after what you've been telling us tonight Misss Vasss Lentana," she replied, mimicking Quala's faked slurring.

Quala laughed, cheering up almost instantly. "And I was saving the good parts for after Tali brings the second bottle," she replied playfully, eliciting a groan from Kal. "Come on, do you want her to have a good time or not?"

"Fine," he conceded, knowing fully that his evening was going to be anything but. "Still, we have to ask," he directed back at Kasumi. "Can you please look out for her while we're gone?"

"You're talking to a habitual stalker and a concerned friend," she answered with a sly grin. "I'd have done it even if you hadn't asked."

"Thanks a bunch, Kas. You don't know how much thisss meansss to ussss." Quala leaned lazily on Kal's shoulder as the slur returned to her voice.

"How much what means to you?" Tali asked quizzically as she walked up, drinks in hand.

"That she ffixed the game for uss. _Kally_ here fforgot his chit on the ssshhip," Quala added, making sure to give Kal a reason to give another genuine groan of annoyance as she winked at Kasumi.

"Oh, how did he earn that name?" she asked, picking up on the cue as Tali sat down next to her.

* * *

_He __was __such __an__arrogant __ass__._

Miranda was still seething as she made her way between stores on the Citadel. The commander, knowing that he could have easily had the medical supplies and armor components delivered to the Normandy in less than an hour with his Spectre status, had instead given her the task of doing his shopping. _He__'__s __trying __to __show __he__'__s __still __top __dog __and __knows __I __can__'__t __do __anything __about __it__. __That __righteous__, __self__-__centered__, __short__-__sighted__, __crew__-__endangering __pr__-_

"Hello Miranda."

Her thoughts paused mid-syllable as her blood turned to ice in her veins. She jumped, trying to locate the source of the voice through the crowd of shoppers around her.

"Yes, I am talking to you." She spun on the spot, the voice having come from behind her this time. "Stop drawing attention to yourself. We don't want everyone staring at the Illusive Man's perfect woman." This time, it came from her right.

She struggled to compose herself and continued walking as she whispered a reply. "What do you want, Kai?"

She heard a chuckle from her left. "To make sure you're listening." A pause, then the voice came from in front of her. "A situation has come up regarding Project Teltin that needs your intervention, and I hear Shepard's given its star pupil access to many of our files." The voice came from off to her left again next: "We want you to make sure she has a nice homecoming. A file has been encrypted and sent to your omni-tool." The voice then came from just behind her, the words hissed directly into her ear: "How she gets it is up to you."

Miranda searched frantically over her shoulder as two strong arms gripped hers from the front. If she could have, she would have jumped in shock as the powerful hands rooted her to the spot. "Consider this a priority," the man said, his face unreadable.

She couldn't help but gulp at the sight of her opposite. While she was forward, headstrong, loud, and determined, he had always been patient, cunning, silent, and ruthlessly efficient. He could have easily executed her on the spot a dozen different ways and escaped long before the people around them took notice, while her own abilities would lead to a panicked crowd and barely slow him down. She nodded as the perfect assassin released her. "It will be done," she managed, fighting to keep her voice level despite his intimidating presence. "You can count on it."

"We expect nothing less."

* * *

**Note from the author:  
****Quala'Oro and Nicholas Glass are OCs created by Levi Matthews for _Finding a Way _and used by permission.**


	3. Paragons of the Species

2: Paragons of the Species

Shepard walked back into the medical bay, the wheelchair in his quarters no longer necessary. Doctor Chakwas took the sight in stride. "Well look who's feeling better. Not clawing at your chest anymore, I hope?"

He avoided giving a direct answer. "Taking time off does wonders."

The doctor shook her head in annoyance as she inspected his ribs. "Sometimes, Commander, I wish you would act a little less like Joker." She stepped back, satisfied by what she saw. "Your ribcage appears to have healed, though it will take a couple more days before it's at full strength. Thankfully, you appear to have avoided any side effects from your accident on Haestrom."

Shepard tried to swat away his unbidden thoughts about Tali, who had managed to successfully avoid bumping into him over the past five days. _You'd think one person out of twenty-five would be easy to find when they're sharing just under 400 square meters of livable space._ "Look Doc, about the cybernetic implants..."

Chakwas cut him off, "Save it, Shepard. If I had any doubts about whether or not you were the same man I knew, they were Thrown against the wall along with Miranda when you allowed Tali and her friends to stay." He flinched, but the doctor didn't catch the motion. "By the way, how are they doing? Quala hasn't come in yet today."

Shepard sighed. "Kal'Reegar and Quala'Oro had to return to the Migrant Fleet. They didn't want to create too much fanfare about it, from what I hear."

"That's got to be hard on Tali," Chakwas noted, giving voice to Shepard's concerns. "Have you talked to her?"

Shepard stifled a sigh. "I haven't had the chance to yet."

A chime sounded from the doctor's omni-tool, distracting her for a moment as she pulled up a message. "Well you may have your shot right now, she just forwarded me her suit's weekly medical log from down in engineering."

Shepard didn't wait to be told a second time.

"Try not to overexert yourself!" Chakwas' shout barely managed to reach his ears before the elevator closed.

Shepard impatiently tapped his foot as the elevator began its maddening crawl. _Why did we ever stop using counterweights again?_ Many mines on the worlds he had visited still used the archaic technology, relying on a large metallic weight and a motor to power elevators at speeds that made mass effect elevators seem as resistant to change as elderly elcor. _Between this sort of thing and thermal clips, I'm beginning to think our tech is actually starting to move backwards. What's next, some top-of-the-line hover-tank with defenses so weak I'll actually miss that lumbering Mako?_

After what felt to him like half an asari lifetime, the elevator door opened. _She probably picked one of the empty terminals,_ he thought, entering the engineering area from the door to his right. _I just hope she's still..._ The door to the core room opened and there she was, her back turned as she typed on the console in front of her.

Shepard made sure to keep his eyes trained on her as he bent over for a moment to catch his breath, his recently-repaired chest protesting his recent sprints down the halls, short though they were.

"Hey Shepard, can I talk to you for a moment?"

Shepard jumped, not expecting a voice to come from behind him. Out of the short period of time Jack had been on board, she had spent most of it by isolating herself in an out-of-the-way nook right below the drive core. It was a testament to this that Shepard had only seen her perform four kinds of facial expressions before: pissed, indifferent, amused, and a special one usually reserved for Miranda: "really fuckin' pissed".

He was not prepared to see a pained expression, the same face he had seen from so many people who had needed his help over the years: the trapped workers on Zorya, the survivors in Zhu's Hope, the besieged people on Elysium...

Then it was gone, quickly replaced by the more familiar look of indifference. The ghost of her pain lingered in the back of Shepard's mind though, nearly eclipsing the one other thought that mattered to him. "Of course you can. Just..." He glanced back into the other room, which was now short one quarian engineer. "Give me a moment to climb down these stairs," he finished.

A hint of amusement played at the corners of Jack's lips. "Cold shoulder, huh? That's always a bitch- for you and Grunt, at least." Shepard didn't bother to ask what she meant as he slowly made his way down to her nook, much of the energy he had had moments before suddenly absent.

By the time he had made it to the lower level, Jack was sitting on her cot. "Tight little group you've got here," she noted as he walked up, "and a pretty nice ship. You'd be rich if you took to piracy." He grimaced at the notion. "But you wouldn't." She continued, not even noticing his change in expression. "I can't figure you Shepard. Doesn't matter." She interjected, standing abruptly. "I gotta talk to you about something."

"I'm listening."

* * *

_Hey, watch it you menace!_

Miranda had nearly shouted the words at the fleeing quarian when she remembered that Jack was just below her, unaware that one of the datapads on her desk was a plant. Tali got up, not bothering to hide that she had stumbled after bumping into Miranda. "Sorry," was all the quarian managed to whimper in her haste to leave the engineering bay and all in it behind.

"But I meant it as a compliment." Ken had just lit the fuse for another quarrel with Gabby in the core room, oblivious to the sound of the commander's voice from an adjacent area.

_She's a complete wreck,_ Miranda thought to herself as Tali left. _I still don't see why our "wonderful" commander would bring such a liability on board._ Still, it was not her responsibility. Shepard had made that much clear when he had stormed into her office earlier that week, his form alight with the power of his barely-contained biotic rage. Even with his wheelchair, it had been one of the most intimidating displays of power she had seen.

_If only he and Leng would finish each other off..._ She almost laughed aloud at the ridiculous notion when she heard the sound of voices coming from directly underneath her feet.

"You know I have a history with Cerberus. You know how far back it goes?"

"I'll listen to anything you have to say, Jack."

_Damn, that was quick,_ Miranda thought. _She must really be obsessed to have found it that quickly._ She bent low to the floor so she could continue to eavesdrop, doing her best to ignore the arguing engineers in the next room.

"...Cerberus raised me. First thing I remember is my cell door in a Cerberus base."

Jack had already started talking of the horrors she had endured as part of Project Teltin: a program meant to manipulate an individual into becoming an ideal biotic killing machine using torture, various invasive experiments, and frequent fights to the death between its subjects to gauge the effectiveness of their augmentations. Miranda had read the files, had known that "raised" was far too kind a word for what had transpired within the facility. But she knew it had all been necessary for many of the advancements that human biotics had undergone within a short time when they had joined the galaxy at large; the L2 and L3 implant series, the first ones that granted humans stable use of their powers, were first developed and tested on Pragia before being dispersed through the Illusive Man's many shell companies. _Besides,_ she told herself, _they went rogue in the end._ She frowned in disgust at the thought. _Improving humanity's strength as a whole wasn't enough for them. They wanted more. Perfection._ She mentally spat at the word. _Cerberus wasn't responsible for the killings, it was people like **him** that subverted the whole project._

Miranda had also been a prisoner growing up, isolated on her father's estate as he'd attempted to mold her into his vision of perfection. _Which still never satisfied him_, Miranda remembered. He had given her biotic abilities, had trained her to her physical peak, had honed her mental and physical talents to create an heir that had no limitations all in the name of his despicable _dynasty_. His iron grip had never held any warmth for her, neither concern nor compassion flowing through the veins that had birthed the entirety of her cloned genetic code. _I don't blame her for escaping when she had the chance, but Cerberus is not as horrible as those monsters._

The sound of footsteps climbing the stairs kept her from continuing her line of thought. The plant had worked, but she didn't want Jack to know she was there. The elevator was too likely the destination of the footsteps' owner, and breaking into the quarters of a krogan or an experienced mercenary didn't make for appealing options. _Wish I had earplugs,_ she thought as she strode into the engineering deck, the drive core's volume drowned out by the voices of the still-arguing engineers.

* * *

Shepard looked around the meeting room at his squad as he walked in, his disgust at the sight before him barely masked. Just to his right, Jack and Grunt were in the middle of a heated argument over who owed who credits. Their voices were controlled at the moment, but he could see the telltale signs that the krogan was about to give in to his blood rage building behind his blue eyes. Jacob and Garrus quietly conversed in another corner on the opposite side. Their manner was professional, though their body language conveyed their strong sense of distrust for one another. Mordin didn't even bother to feign attentiveness, his omnitool alight as he studied its viewscreen. Miranda had isolated herself at the opposite end of the table, looking pointedly away from the commander as she quietly fumed. Tali, who was similarly distracted, quietly gazed at a notch in the table's surface as she leaned on the table with her arms folded. Kasumi, who had been standing next to the quarian and trying to coax some signs of life out of her, looked up as Shepard walked in, a move mirrored by Zaeed.

_We're supposed to take on the collectors like this?_ Shepard shook his head and cleared his throat to get the others' attention, or as much of it as they would spare. "As you know, we're heading to a former Cerberus facility on Pragia. The facility was used to force kidnapped human children with biotic tendencies to unlock their potential through torture, isolation, and deadly experimental drugs." A shockingly small amount of the squad seemed phased. "We're going there at Jack's request to detonate a bomb and level the facility." A few more heads perked up. "However, it has been abandoned for years, so we're expecting minimal resistance, if any."

Immediately, he regretted revealing that last point. Grunt shook his head and made for the door. "No honor in bombing ghosts, Shepard. Come back when you have a real fight for me."

Garrus also excused himself. "I'm usually all-in for divine retribution via huge explosions, but I can already tell that this one's going to end up being a bit too personal for my tastes. I'll be tuning the cannons if you need me."

Mordin made the tail end of the procession. "Low-risk mission. Plenty of squad strength already. Crew health reports take authority. Wish to track down source of virus effecting human crew on third deck. Typically carried by varren, sexually transmitted." He closed his eyes for a moment. "Implications disturbing."

Kasumi's eyes flashed as the salarian left, though she stayed put. "Remind me to stop eating Rupert's Saturday surprise."

Shepard looked around the room, which felt much emptier than it had been with the absence of the krogan. "I take it everyone else who's still here has no issues with going on the mission? Becau-"

"I'm not having the Cerberus cheerleader play tour guide so she can tell us to behave and keep our hands off the merchandise," Jack spat. "Same goes for Major Neutrality over here."

"Fine, this mission's a mistake anyways." Miranda matched Jack's venomous gaze with her own "really fuckin' pissed" look as she stormed out the door.

Jacob sighed as he lingered for a moment. "Maybe next time, Commander." He nodded as he followed Miranda.

Shepard barely contained his own disappointment as he returned the nod. "What about you, Zaeed?"

The veteran stood a little straighter as he spoke. "Way I see it, we've got a job to do and a bomb to set off. I'm goddamn thrilled. I'm your man Shepard."

John grinned, pleased by the merc's enthusiastic reaction. The look melted off his face then looked over at the quarian, who was staring so intently at a divot in the table that he felt she expected it to hold the secret to reclaiming her homeworld. "What about you, Tali?"

She stiffened and shut her eyes as he said her name, looking as though the notch had finally had enough of her unwavering gaze and lashed out at her in anger. Shepard could tell that if not for her opaque visor, all that he would see was pain. "Tali?" His voice was softer this time.

"She volunteered to help me with my suit." Everyone had been so focused on Tali that they jumped at the sound of Kasumi's voice. "The cloaking software's been acting up, and she said she'd help me iron out the glitches." She phased out of existence in a quick demonstration, though random patches of her clothing or face kept flickering in and out of view. All eyes then fixed back on the quarian, who remained silent for a few moments before making a slow nod and resuming her staring contest with the nick in the table.

"Alright, that settles it," Shepard began, bottling up his concern for the time being. "Zaeed and Jack: get your gear, grab Glass, and head over to the shuttle. Tali:" The lights of her eyes vanished again as the mercenary and biotic left to prepare. "Get a hot meal from Garrus's rations and some rest before you help Kasumi. You look like you need it." The turian's meals were individually packed and sealed against contamination, and the commander knew she generally preferred them over the nutrient paste quarians usually consumed. He hoped she would look up and notice his smile, but she only had eyes for the floor as she left the room in silence. Shepard finally let his mask of confidence fall as the thief walked over. "Kasumi, thanks for covering for her." She nodded, the look of concern crossing her face mirroring his own as he spoke again. "Can you please-"

"Already on it, Shep," she interrupted as she seamlessly cloaked.

* * *

Shepard opened the shuttle door to a torrent of rain, the boosted shields from his shield modulator making the air in front of his face shimmer as raindrops contacted it. _I hope there aren't too many leaks inside,_ he thought, _because this is hard to see through. _He looked over at Jack, who once again had that unexpected look of vulnerability as she gazed at the landing pad, lost in thought. The moment soon passed, made evident by her simple statement: "Let's just get in there and plant the bomb in my cell. I want to watch this place burn."

Nicholas Glass looked up from the displays in the cockpit to address the team. "It's set to go off on a detonator switch. I'll keep it here while I do some scans to figure out exactly how far away we need to be to get a safe view of the explosion."

Zaeed grunted an acknowledgement as he slung the explosive onto his back. "We're wasting moonlight Shepard. And something tells me we don't want to hold flashlights in this place."

Shepard shared the mercenary's unease, but made no comment as they made their way into the facility. The first room looked innocuous enough: an empty cargo room with a few crates. Shepard was thankful for the respite from the rain, but Jack soon killed any positive thoughts about the room.

"I never saw this room. I think they brought new kids in these containers. They were messed up and starving, but alive." Jack stopped to look around again. "Usually."

Massani, the grizzled veteran and founder of the infamous Blue Suns mercenary band, appeared stunned beyond words. "Unbelievable..." he muttered.

Shepard remained silent as he pressed forward, each new room holding a new and more disturbing memory that Jack voiced aloud: News that the facility had gone rogue, an area where they'd staged pit fights between Jack and the other children, tales of how narcotics flooded her veins when she attacked. Each one fed Shepard's growing loathing of the building and all it stood for. _How does Miranda defend this?_ There had been some varren infesting the ruins, the doglike reptiles scavenging the rooms for scraps before they attacked the humans. Soon, however, they found something that gave them pause.

"This place is supposed to be empty. Who the fuck shot that varren? It's a fresh kill." Jack was nonplussed by the sight.

Shepard passed them incendiary charges as he slipped one into the mod slot of his avenger. "Looks like the varren weren't the only ones interested in Teltin."

Zaeed grunted as he slipped one into his own mattock rifle. "S'about goddamn time we had some real meat."

* * *

Tali gazed intently out the window toward Pragia as she undid the straps on her leg in the starboard observation deck. She hadn't dared to look at the thing, let alone touch it, for the past several days, and she was in no hurry to do so now. Her breathing slowed as she reluctantly worked with the buckles, her eyes trying in vain to make out the outlines of the millions of trees on the planet below. Soon, she was rewarded with a soft _thump_, confirming that her job was done. She straightened up on the couch with her eyes closed for a few more moments before she willed herself to open them. There on the cushion was a dagger, contained for the moment in its jet-black scabbard. The gleaming white hilt was ornamented with numerous blue etchings that wound their way along it from the base of the blade to a stripe of black fabric that formed an impromptu pommel. The knife didn't contain a guard, the blade needing no ornamentation aside from the carefully-etched characters on the grip.

"Has it really been that long?" she muttered to herself as she lifted it off the seat. While most species had adopted a calendar year that was roughly equal to one solar year (Palaven and Sur'Kesh took a little longer to complete one revolution, whereas Thessia was slightly faster at circling its own star.), the insular quarians aboard the Migrant Fleet still used a calendar based on the orbit of their homeworld, Rannoch. While they didn't use it to plan anything in relation to other species, it was still culturally significant to their introverted lives aboard the liveships. Most species going off of the Citadel's calendar would find nothing significant about "nearly-thirteen years", but to the quarian sitting alone in the crew's quarters, it was more than that. "Twenty years to the day," she breathed.

* * *

_A trio of quarian youths stands with an equal number of adults if an empty hallway, their eyes fixed on a door. None of the group dared to speak. Speaking would lead to hope. Hope would lead to speculation. Speculation would lead to fear. The last thing any of them wanted was to feed each other's fears, so they remained silent. After what felt like an eternity, the amber light on the door in front of them turned green. A single white-suited quarian emerged as all eyes fell on him, none of their owners daring to voice the question at the forefront of their minds. Their words were not necessary though, as his head and shoulders drooped and he gave a slow shake of his helmet._

_"Keelah," one of the adults, a grey-suited female muttered. Another one of the adults, a pink-and-black suited male, stood and took a slow step toward the door. The white one stood aside, allowing him to pass. Two of the children, one in green and the other red-and-white, shared a look of concern before looking at the third, a Girl in blue-and-silver. The Girl felt the tears, but refused to let them flow. It couldn't be happening, not now. She sprinted through the doorway, passing the pink one and barely stopping to allow the decontamination process to run before She was in the clean room._

_By the dim light of a few candles on the walls -a rarity aboard the quarian fleet in and of themselves- the Girl could barely see her surroundings. The walls were a deep blue, with several occasional splotches of white and gray that had confused the young quarian. A dark green fabric covered the floor, a far cry from the solid feel of metal or concrete that she was used to walking on. She felt awkward as She walked crossed the green plain, each footstep sinking a few millimeters as the fabric yielded to her weight. An ornate mirror even adorned one wall, tall enough for a fully-grown quarian to admire themselves. Altogether, the room's calming influence was a far cry from the bare walls and floors seen in most rooms of the _Rayya_._

_Inside the unusually spacious room was a single bed, lined with comforts for the suitless quarian who lay there in it, a feather in the nest of pillows. The Girl couldn't remember the last time She had seen her without the purple environment suit that was now on a hanger by the door, though the sight pained Her heart. The woman in the cot had grown pale, even by quarian standards; the once black lines that adorned her body and the sides of her face like carefully-drawn calligraphy had faded to gray. The Girl stepped closer, noting how her dark hair was no longer bound with the handmade circlets that were strewn across the floor. A series of machines were connected to the woman's arm with a network of tubes and wires, none of them displaying what She had hoped to see most. The Girl froze, a single tear escaping to run down Her face._

_No..._

_The pink one did not share Her hesitation. In a moment, he was by her side, his hands grasped around the woman's free arm. "Laenya?" he breathed, the whisper barely audible above the machines._

_The woman turned to face him as a smile spread across her face. "It's okay Rael. It's okay."_

_"No. No, we're going to get a new doctor, a new treatment. We can try medical stasis. We can do cryo. I'm not losing you just because we didn't have time to figure this out, damn it!" Rael'Zorah stammered, his voice breaking._

_"Shhh, it's okay," she breathed. She released his hands and withdrew a long package from within the folds of her blankets. "Promise me, Rael," she said, placing the package in his hands. "Promise me you'll keep Her safe."_

_Rael took the package with one hand and gripped the woman's tighter with his other. "I will, and you will be right here with me, Laenya. Just hold on."_

_The woman gave a soft chuckle, which turned into a cough as she sat up a little. "We both know that can't happen now Rael."_

_The Girl finally found Her voice, though She was having more trouble holding the tears back. "Mom..."_

_The woman fell back down on her pillows, her luminous eyes going out of focus. "Ta..."_

_"Mom..."_

_Rael's voice became more urgent. "I promise you Laenya, I promise I'll keep her safe. I'll build Her a better future. I will give Her the homeworld if I have to!"_

_"Tali..." Laenya'Zorah exhaled a final time as the machines began to tone._

_"Mom!"_

_The Girl hadn't noticed the hands holding Her shoulders, and nearly tripped in Her haste to reach the bed. The arms held Her upright as the tears now raced forth, twinkling softly from behind Her visor._

_"Mom!"_

_Rael'Zorah held onto his bondmate's hand a little longer, then gently lowered it onto her chest. "In the name of the homeworld Tali will see someday, I promise you."_

_The gray one adjusted her grip on the Girl in her arms as she softly spoke. "Ancestors, guide her spirit to your home. Keelah se'lai."_

_"Keelah se'lai," the others in the room, minus the Girl, echoed._

_"MOM!"_

_Rael noticed the others around him for the first time. "Let Her go, Raan," he sighed, placing the package on the bed._

_The Girl tore off her visor and gloves as She ran to the bed, all caution abandoned in the clean room with the now-motionless woman. She held the woman's ungloved hand, willing the rapidly-fading warmth within them to stay a bit longer as She began to sob uncontrollably._

_"Han'Gerrel, we have much to discuss," Rael began in the background as the Girl continued to weep, his broken voice now resolute with purpose. "By the time they have completed their pilgrimages we will have a fleet large enough to give even the turians pause. This generation is the one that will give us the edge we need against the geth." The Girl stopped crying for a moment to look into Her mother's bright eyes one last time, then saw the package laying by her head; a white bar ornamented with blue Khelish characters stuck out of the wrappings. "This is when we will have our chance to retake the homeworld."_

_"Agreed, Rael. They will be able to win a new age for our species. We should begin preparations immediately. We'll need to focus on gathering resources for..."_

_The rest of their conversation was lost on the Girl, as Her renewed weeping drowned out the men's voices._

* * *

She had gotten better at holding the tears back, but a single drop still managed to escape down the side of Tali's face at the memory. The diamond traced its way down her cheek until her suit's automated perspiration detection absorbed it for filtration and recycling. _No more tears,_ she thought, steeling herself as a half-formed idea came to her. Her mind filled with resolve as her three fingers wrapped around the handle, drawing the blade.

* * *

_I hate vorcha._

The creatures had swarmed over the next room as Shepard's squad had entered, pouring in from catwalks, windows, and doors alike. _Good thing for the inferno rounds,_ Shepard thought as he popped out of cover to shoot one of the vorcha with his assault rifle. He grinned as the thing's skin caught fire, negating its healing abilities as it began to panic. _If not for these-_ He ducked back into cover, narrowly missing another's flamethrower. Shepard could smell his own singed hair as he tossed a biotic Shockwave over his cover. It snarled in pain as Zaeed delivered the finishing blow to its gas tank, destroying the pyro and flooring several of its neighbors. "Let me show you what a real Shockwave looks like, Shepard." Jack's face was set on "amused" as she launched her own Shockwave, devastating the downed enemies with a series of explosions that lifted their forms several feet into the air.

"Goddamn space goblins!" Zaeed yelled, hurling an inferno grenade at another group of attackers.

_Perfect._ Shepard felt his skin tingle with energy as he launched into a biotic charge, the unfortunate recipient tumbling backward through a window and out of sight.

The shooting stopped, and the squad had a chance to look around. The room was dilapidated like many of the others they had passed through, a tree having managed to grow in between the floor plates in one corner. However, the room still had telltale signs of its original purpose. Between the numerous operating tables and abundance of body bags, there was no denying it. Shepard's eyes panned around the room, his mind unwilling to confirm what he saw. _They needed a full-size morgue for a facility this small?_

Zaeed shared his shock. "Looks like a lot of kids died in these experiments. I've done some bad stuff, but this..." He shook his head. "At least the Suns in my day had honor."

"Bullshit. I had the worst of it, and I got out alive." Jack was suffering from an altogether different kind of denial as she pointed her eviscerator shotgun at a dead vorcha. "Shepard, check this insignia."

He and Zaeed walked over to the corpse she had indicated, a vorcha killed by biotics instead of burned by the inferno rounds. "I've seen that before," the commander said, pointing at what appeared to be a white skull and fist painted on the vorcha's shoulder.

Zaeed nodded. "Blood Pack. We should expect krogan soon." He smirked at Jack. "So much for this mission being simple."

Shepard thought of Tali and sighed. "Nothing's ever simple, Massani."

* * *

_"A simple salvage mission." If it wasn't for his creds, I'd have gutted that human myself months ago._

Kureck snarled as he gathered what was left of his warriors: a handful of vorcha and his two krogan bodyguards. The job was supposed to be simple: break into the dead facility for the human and help him get set up, and they walked away with all the salvageable tech they could carry. An easy mission that could've been completed by any rookie within the Blood Pack who could gather a pair of vorcha and call themselves a battlemaster.

Except that all those rookies had laughed when they heard about the job.

Battlemaster Kureck was not like them though- he had survived over nine centuries of strife because he knew how to pick his battles. He didn't need to throw himself into great conflicts for blood and glory so long as he earned the one thing that mattered most in the galaxy: profit. You can't profit if you're needlessly risking lives and need more medigel. You can't profit from a frontal charge if you don't know where the enemy who would kill you is taking cover. You can't profit from jumping into the most dangerous missions with poor supplies and no backup. _And you certainly can't profit from acting like a fool in battle._

"You two, get behind the smashed column in the middle and provide suppressing fire on my order," he directed at two of the vorcha. "You two," he indicated another pair that carried flamethrowers, "stagger your fire so they don't have a chance to move. As for you," he pointed at his krogan bodyguards. "There's nothing out there large enough to cover you from their sight if you start from down there. Stand behind the crates up here until the fighting starts, then sneak in once the intruders are pinned. I'll keep the heat on them from here with my biotics so they won't have a chance to see you."

"Yes, battlemaster." The krogan under him shared his vision of profitability, trusting in the wisdom of his plan to keep them alive long enough to cash in the creds.

Kureck frowned as the warriors did as they were told. The mission so far had been anything but profitable. The human, Aresh, had promised that there would be salvage all over the base, though over a galactic standard year of searching had brought up nothing but useless recordings and a handful of horrendously-outdated biotic amps, even by human standards. On top of that, the varren that infested the building had bred faster than his soldiers could kill them, though they had secured this wing against their attacks. The krogan knew better than to allow himself to be cheated out of his profits, and had pressured the human to pay him bonuses over time as the search continued to produce nothing but junk and animal attacks. The human had complied, his pockets evidently much deeper than he had initially implied. Even so, Kurek's patience had been wearing thin. He had been seriously considering abandoning the man to his twisted sense of nostalgia when the intruders had come in and started killing off his men.

_Such a waste._

Kureck played with the idea of letting the intruders pass, possibly even tolling them for access to the room where Aresh had hidden. The reports from his other vorcha had made the intruders' destination clear before their radios had gone silent. _No, there's an opportunity for a bigger payday. _He radioed the human as the door opposite him began to open. _You can't profit if you ignore the bargaining chips right in front of you._

The intruders, a trio of humans, walked into the room as his comm link buzzed in his ear. "What is it?"

Kureck began to pace as he spoke. "Hey Aresh, it's Kureck."

He had briefed Aresh on the situation as soon as the first vorcha had spotted the humans. "Are they-"

"Yeah, the intruders are here," Kureck stated, cutting him off. "You want them dead, we have to talk creds." He stopped pacing and faced the humans as he vented his displeasure at Aresh. "You promised us lots of salvage, but this place is a waste." He sized the humans up as he waited for an answer. One was clearly battle-hardened as he walked in with his yellow armor. _Is that a Blue Suns logo on his neck?_ Another looked relatively frail with her slim frame and lack of armor, but her biotic aura, heavily-tattooed body, and "don't fuck with me" facial expression stated otherwise. A third human, evidently the leader, showed no fear as he strode in. Parts of his armor were bleached white and grey from some previous battle, but his chestplate and shield modulator belt appeared brand new, the characters "N7" gleaming white over the gunmetal armor component. Kureck frowned at the sight. _Aresh had better come up with a good answer.__  
_

Kureck's commlink buzzed again, prompting him to tilt his head as a frenzy of words poured into his ear. "Fine, I'll give you another forty thousand. You'll have your money, just kill them now."

_Acceptable._ "Fine, we'll put 'em down," the krogan answered. "Then I'm coming in there and we're going to talk salvage." Kureck didn't want to waste another second on the vegetation-dominated rock if he could avoid it.

The lead human stopped by the edge of the courtyard and spoke. "What are you doing here?"

Kureck signaled his vorcha and yelled an answer. "First we're going to kill you, then we'll see."

The humans dived behind cover as Kurek's forces opened fire. They were soon pinned by the combined fire from the rifles and flamethrowers. _All according to plan_. A series of tremors shook the ground under his feet as a pair of biotic Shockwaves traveled across the room, stunning his vorcha. The one with the yellow armor fired his rifle at one of the pyros, puncturing its fuel tank. Kureck roared as he mustered a ball of biotic energy, setting it to warp matter around it as he launched it at his target. His shot missed as the foe took cover, and the krogan received a blast from a trio of surprisingly powerful balls of plasma for his trouble. His barriers absorbed the burning energy, but they knocked him back enough that he was unable to launch another Warp before the human, his battle-scarred armor gleaming, took cover.

Kureck growled as he regained his footing. _That pyjack's gutsy, but it won't help him here._ Sure enough, his krogan had already closed half the distance to the humans before the unfortunate vorcha's fuel tank exploded. Evidently, the leader had seen through Kureck's ruse in his moment out of cover, as he moved to a corner of the room where the krogan couldn't throw an accurate Warp. The unmistakable rattle of an avenger assault rifle echoed from the corner as its target stumbled under the sustained fire, flames flaring up to lick its fresh wounds. The human began to walk forward, fearless as he fought to retain the rifle's accuracy while he held down the weapon's trigger. The rounds began to pierce the krogan's flesh as the woman sent another Shockwave through the middle of the courtyard. _Just a little closer... _The krogan had begun to stand, but was too slow to avoid the human's fist, which glowed blue as he punched through its skull. "Raaaah!" Kureck roared as he unleashed another Warp at the unprotected human. The attack hit its mark, overloading the man's shields and causing him to double over. _Yes. That is what happens when you waste my credits._ The human gripped at its waist as Kureck raised his claymore shotgun. _And he's just within range._ The human vanished in a flash of light before he could pull the trigger. _What the-_

Kureck's surprise was nothing compared to that of his other bodyguard, who tripped from the titanic force of the human's biotic charge. The human leveled an already-drawn carnifex pistol at the krogan's head as the woman next to him fired, tearing a large hole in its armor. _This can't_ _be. _The yellow-armored human tossed a grenade at his last vorcha soldier, its shriek of pain loud enough to rattle Kureck's eardrums as it burst into flames. The humans' leader fired a single shot into the other krogan's skull as fire poured through Kurek's veins. _This can't be!_ He roared again as he fired his shotgun in defiance at the humans across the room. All was forgotten as he leaped from his covered position and charged across the room toward his target. The Shockwave that weakened his barriers didn't matter. The concussive blast that downed his barriers didn't slow him down as he barreled through the yellow-armored human. He laughed as the biotic woman tried to Throw him, his heavy armor granting him enough inertia to continue his charge. He batted her aside as she fired her shotgun, narrowly missing his face. The leader was looking at him now, a fury in his eyes that served only to make the bloodrage-induced krogan's pace to quicken. He tossed another Warp at the human as it reached for the avenger, knowing it was impossible to miss at that range. The man crumpled in pain, his arms sprawled out under him. _A fitting end for how much he's cost me._ Kureck lowered his shotgun to the man's head. "You will die here now, human."

**"I will destroy you!"**

* * *

"Tali, wait!"

The quarian jumped at the sound of the voice, her half-drawn dagger dropping to the floor with a loud clatter. "Keelah, stop sneaking up on me like that Kasumi!"

The human popped into view in front of her, a pair of small bottles in hand as she made a slight grin in spite of the situation. "Sorry, it's what I do." Her face turned more serious as she continued, "But what was it you were going to do?"

Words failed the quarian as she considered the question. _Was I really going to... Oh, I'm such an idiot. Such a stupid thing to do, and I'd just be failing him again._ She shook her head as she fought back another tear. She felt a slight pressure on her shoulder as Kasumi sat down next to her. Without thinking, Tali immediately embraced her, a vein of silver now visible through her visor. Kasumi held her in return, softly shushing the quarian as she wept. "What I did, Kasumi. It's unforgivable."

"He's already forgiven you, Tali. Everyone knows that."

"He's not the one that needs to."

The last statement quieted the thief, who filled the silence by rocking slightly. The subconscious act comforted the quarian slightly, though the stain of her sin lingered in her mind. "I couldn't bring myself to look at it, not after what happened," she rasped in between sobs, not daring to turn toward the knife. "I never even cleaned his bl-" Words failed her again as she pressed her visor against Kasumi's shoulder.

"Here, let me take a look at it." Tali made no move to stop her as she picked up the knife and drew it out of its scabbard. Sure enough, a reddish-brown residue coated much of the blade. She opened one of the bottles that she had brought, using the amber fluid to soak a towel she pulled from one of her pockets. Tali stared as the thief wiped the blade with a single smooth motion from grip to tip, restoring the dagger to a bright silver shine. "Nothing like a little alcohol to get rid of a bad memory," Kasumi mused, offering the other bottle. "It's a turian ale, triple-filtered for quarian consideration." Tali contemplated the prospect for a long moment. _It's not as bad as what I was going to_ do, she finally conceded with a nod. The human poured her a glass while she drew a sterile straw from a pouch on her hip. Kasumi then poured her own glass from the first bottle, lifting it in a toast to the quarian. "Nicked this from Chakwas down in the med bay. It had a note that said 'buy another one next year', so I figured she wouldn't be needing the rest of it. The doc does have good taste though." Tali returned the toast, then took a slow draw from her own glass through the straw as Kasumi drank her brandy. They sat in silence for a few minutes, occasionally sipping their drinks. Eventually, both sets of eyes fell back to the blade, which Kasumi had placed back on the couch (just out of Tali's reach).

"It is a beautiful knife though, Tali."

The human's statement took her by surprise. After carrying it around so long, she had neglected to really_ look_ at the blade that had adorned her calf for many years. For the first time in ages, she allowed herself to appreciate the craftsmanship shown in the dagger's handle, as well as its smooth transition into the blade proper. She nodded, "It was made to last."

"I've seen enough artifacts to recognize old Khelish writings when I see them. Any ideas what it says?"

Tali sighed, remembering the epic that had been told to her by its previous owner as a bedtime story on nights when the Rayya's ventilation ducts were rumbling louder than usual. "It's an old quarian legend. I'd rather not get into it right now." She remembered how the purple-suited quarian was always willing to tell it, even when she had pulled double or triple shifts at her post. "But I wouldn't mind telling it to you later."

The human nodded, seemingly deep in thought. "Did you make this yourself? It doesn't look like the sort of utility knife that most quarians would carry."

"No," the quarian's voice became softer. "It was my mother's... She passed twenty years ago today- quarian calendar years, I mean." A moment passed as comprehension dawned on Kasumi's face, while Tali found herself regretting the decision to speak. _Now she's going to ask all the wrong questions about her. "How did she pass?" "What did she look like?" "How old was she?" "How did you feel?" "Did she leave you anything else?" "What were her last words?" "I thought quarians didn't have personal belongings." Oh Keelah, why did I open my mouth?_

"What was she like?"

The question gave Tali a start. It was exactly the sort of question she hadn't expected. "She... was a very patient person. She was part of the maintenance crew for the Rayya, the ship where I grew up. She was always willing to listen to what people had to say, and to comfort them when they were in need. She hated conflict though; Auntie Raan always joked about how surprised she was that my mother bonded with a fleet admiral. She loved her jokes though- she always used to tell me that the best prank an engineer can play on her boss is to give them exactly what they asked for." She paused as a chuckle came to her. Whether or not it had been helped along by the ale now coursing through her system, she neither knew nor cared. "You should have seen what happened when the captain asked her to redesign the command center to give his station a better view of his crew."

"What did she do?"

"She installed mirrors over the windows, said it also helped to fix a structural weakness."

They shared a good laugh, and Kasumi refilled their glasses.

* * *

Shepard groaned as the effects of the Warp faded. He knew that he was a sitting duck for the krogan biotic, that any moment now, he would end up falling back into the void.

Any moment now...

Any moment...

_He sure is taking his sweet time._

The Spectre lifted his head, fully expecting to see the barrel of the krogan's shotgun as it laughed and pulled the trigger.

He didn't expect to see Jack standing over him, one hand held out for him as she flexed and shook the other. Shepard grabbed hold, allowing the convict to help him up. "Couldn't let that Cerberus bitch take over the ship again, Shepard," she said.

The commander was bewildered. "Where'd that last krogan go?" Jack nodded at the wall behind him. He turned around and grimaced; the concrete wall now bore a roughly-krogan-shaped depression that was a mosaic of armor, scales, bone, and yellow-orange gore.

"Turns out, those YMIRs are actually easier to punch through than krogan. My knuckles are stinging like a motherfucker."

Shepard laughed in disbelief, grateful for the intervention. "Are you okay, Zaeed?"

"I'll be fine," the merc said, already climbing to his feet. "S'not my first krogan rodeo, and I doubt it'll be my last."

"Good," Jack replied, indicating the bomb on Zaeed's back. "Means I don't have to carry that thing. Only room left is my old cell. Whoever this 'Aresh' is, he's in there. I want to plant the bomb there anyway, might as well do it on his corpse."

Shepard nodded and activated his radio. "Glass, we're almost done here. We'll meet you on the roof in ten."

The pilot's response was instantaneous: "Loud and clear, commander. I'll warm her up."

Shepard closed the link to find Jack immersed in another memory: the first time she had killed a guard during her escape. He and Zaeed waited as she kneeled by the stain on the wall. She suddenly stood up and strode toward the door at the opposite end of the hall, purpose driving her every move. The men shared a confused glance and followed as the door opened.

"Subject Zero, I see I wasn't the only one drawn back here." Aresh appeared frail before the woman, but his voice remained firm. "Perhaps you, too desired to find the true purpose of this facility."

"The name is Jack, and I'm here to tear this place down." She didn't give an inch as she answered his indirect question.

"This is my home. I'm here to finish what they started. If I can't then all their deaths will have been in vain."

"What are you talking about?" Shepard had a feeling that the man had more than just a single screw loose.

"The answer! They always gave us the worst of it- the torture, the experiments, the drugs, the tests. All of it so they could know if she would die from it. There never seemed to be any reason behind it, but I've figured it out. It was all because of her." Aresh turned to address Jack directly. "You were always the question, Jack. And I'm here to find the answer." Without missing a beat, he flung himself at her. However, the convict was quicker on the draw. Within a moment, he had been Pulled off his feet and into the air. Biotic energy glowed around Jack as she drew her pistol.

"Shut up, Aresh! This facility has no fucking answer."

"But you-" Aresh began.

"You're just as twisted as those sick fucks were. They did this to us just to see what would happen, then went overboard because they ran out of tests and got bored. Sick fucks like you did this. Sick fucks like you kidnapped kids and experimented on them just for kicks. Sick fucks like you killed everyone you ever cared about. Sick fucks like you need to go." Jack raised her pistol as she spoke, menace in her eyes.

"But-"

"You need to go." She aimed at his head and placed a finger on the trigger.

Shepard was too far away to reach the gun before she could fire. "Jack, don't-"

"I said you need to go." Jack blinked and turned away as her biotic inferno faded and Aresh fell to the floor. **"Get the fuck out!"**

John and Zaeed backed away from Aresh in stunned silence as the terrified man made for the door. Only once he was gone and Jack lowered the pistol did the Spectre dare to speak. "Jack, are you alright?"

"He's not worth chasing," Jack answered with a shake of her head. "None of it is."

* * *

Tali sat back on the couch next to Kasumi, the grin on her face visible through her voice as she put down the empty bottles and glasses. "You know, it's been a long time since anyone asked me about my mother. I don't even think _he's_ even asked me about her yet." She chuckled a little, the buzz from the alcohol still fresh in her veins.

"You know, Shep won't have a chance if you keep acting like you have been. Keep up this silent treatment nonsense and he may even go after another asari." Tali gave her a surprisingly hard punch in the arm for her trouble. "Okay then, promise me you'll give him a chance to talk to you at least."

Tali became quiet for a moment. "But he's not going to want me, especially after-"

"Tali," the human interrupted, "he doesn't care about what happened. Trust me. The way he's been trying to track you down over the past couple of days, it makes professional stalkers like me look like the normal random people you pass on the street that just happen to give you a little deja vu." She stopped to think for a moment. "Though, I guess it would be hard to tell the difference between the two."

The quarian chuckled at Kasumi's unintended joke as she turned to face the window. "Fine, I'll stop avoiding him. It still won't do anything for the guilt though."

"Baby steps."

The quarian blinked and turned toward her, unfamiliar with this particular human idiom.

"It means you make progress a little bit at a time, like a baby who's just learning to walk." Tali nodded and gazed back at the view, satisfied by Kasumi's answer. "That or you can always wait for some big, beautiful, fiery, cathartic event."

Joker's voice came in over the ship's intercoms: "Anyone on the crew deck that enjoys fireworks, there will be a big, beautiful, fiery, cathartic explosion off to starboard in about fifteen seconds. I suggest you enjoy the time off before Glass gets back aboard. Everyone else: sorry about the elevator. That's all I can say about that."

The girls burst into a fit of laughter as the doors opened behind them. "Now that's convenient," Kasumi replied. "Can I have five million credits?"

_John's already covered that_, Tali thought with a grin as a flash of light bloomed on Pragia's surface.

* * *

Miranda rolled her eyes at the sound of Joker's voice. She barely tolerated Glass's off-duty hijinks, let alone Joker's outright dismissal of proper conduct. _If it wasn't for his Vrolik's syndrome..._ Her mind came up with several alternatives to provoke a more professional manner from the pilot. _I can't let myself get distracted,_ she thought with a shake of her head as she returned to her task.

In front of her, the holoscreen for her private terminal showed a partially complete message, which she hurried to finish:

_Mission report 006: Lazarus Cell._

_From: Operative Miranda Lawson_

_To: The Illusive Man_

_Illusive Man,_

_Shepard's injuries have fully healed and he has been declared fit for duty. No doubt his speedy recovery was due in no small part to the expertise demonstrated by Doctors Solus and Chakwas. He was able to take part in the Teltin assignment, which I'm hearing was a rousing success, despite the "unexpected" resistance._

_Off-duty, he has been sleeping better, though his strong concern for the quarian in her distressed state is troubling. She has been actively avoiding him and is unresponsive to others in her immediate vicinity. She's a distraction to the commander and a liability on the battlefield; I still see no reason to deem her fit to join the crew, let alone assist in combat. In addition, some of Shepard's squad have started to clash over their individual differences. Glass will help with damage control, but he can't be everywhere at once._

_In the meantime, I'd again like to request that the package we ordered be delivered soon. We were able to acquire a replacement following Haestrom but I fear it will not hold up to the task by itself._

_I believe we will be heading to Illium next, in order to finish off the list of dossiers you've provided. I will provide another update once we reach the planet._

_Miranda Lawson_

She had just hit the "send" key when she heard heavy steps coming from outside her door. Jack barged in, fuming as she tossed a datapad on the officer's desk. "You knew about this, and you still didn't say shit before we left?"

Miranda had enough experience to recognize when she'd been made. "It was a necessary diversion from the mission. We didn't want them to find anything useful out of those ruins. If it meant you had a chance to sort out your own issues, it was a bonus."

Jack glared at Miranda with that special look of pure loathing that she saved for her. "Issues? I'm not even going to pretend you don't know what they did down there. The things Cerberus did to me and those kids were _inhuman_, princess 'savior of humanity'."

_You picked the wrong week to mess with me._ Miranda had already lost a shouting match to Shepard, and didn't intend to repeat the experience. Not when she had the facts backing her up, at least. "Those experiments were necessary. If not for them, we wouldn't have known about the issues with L2s for years. It's because of them that we were able to iron out issues for the L3 series so quickly."

"Bull fucking shit! Were the injections necessary? Were the fights? What about all those 'precious little moments' the guards liked to have with the kids when they were off-duty and the scientists were turning a blind eye?"

Miranda noticed that Jack's biotics were starting to flare as her voice rose in intensity. She fought to keep her own level as she extended her hand. "Jack, you need to calm down."

The convict's reaction was instant and hostile. "Touch me and I'll smear the walls with you, bitch!" Miranda dodged the chair that was Thrown at her and could see her own biotic barriers flare as her blood began to run hot.

"Enough! Stand down, both of you!"

Shepard's voice had come from the doorway, but neither of the women dared to look away from each other as Jack closed in on Miranda. "The cheerleader won't admit what Cerberus did to me was wrong." She turned away and began to walk toward the door.

Miranda kept her eyes on the convict as she uttered an unbidden reply: "It wasn't Cerberus, not really. But clearly you were a mistake."

Jack performed an abrupt about-face that would have made any drill instructor proud as she pointed her finger at Miranda. "Screw you! You've got no idea what they put me through!" Her hand lowered as she kicked her chin out at the officer. "Maybe it's time I showed you."

Shepard intervened before things could escalate further. "_My_ opinion is the one that matters. You two keep a deck apart at all times."

Miranda finally allowed herself to look away from the woman and at her commander. _Surely he must be able to see reason._ "She can't be trusted Shepard. She'll jeopardize the whole mission."

Shepard was firm as he looked her in the eye. "If we survive this, you two can tear each other apart." He turned toward Jack as he continued. "Until then, save your hate for the collectors."

Jack didn't look away from Miranda as she spoke, though she dialed down her tone noticeably. "She'll survive, I'll make sure of it. Then... I'll tear you apart myself."

Shepard held up an arm as Jack made for the door. "You two going to be okay?"

She moved his arm out of the way as Miranda turned toward her desk, releasing a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding. "It's a good thing you came by when you did." She noticed that her messaging program was still active, displaying a "sent" notification. _Perhaps it's for the best that the Illusive Man doesn't find out about this._ "As long as she does her job, we'll be fine. Thanks, Shepard." She made sure to give him a genuine look of gratitude as she sat down.

* * *

The Illusive Man closed Miranda's message, allowing the dying star's light to shine unimpeded into the room. "As you can see, Kai, your questions about her loyalty are unfounded. It will take more than just Shepard's influence to derail her from our cause."

The shadow behind him blinked. "I still think we should keep a tight watch on her. If Shepard manages to-"

The Illusive Man held up a hand, causing the assassin to fall silent. "We already have her on observation. To initiate another direct contact with her or the squad during their mission at this point would be an unnecessary risk." He paused as he lit a fresh cigarette. "She will help Shepard with the mission, as were her orders, and she will come back to us when it's over." He took a long drag from it as he turned to face Kai Leng. "One way, or another."

* * *

**Notes from the author:  
Yes, I'm aware the Miranda/Jack situation near the end happened later in-game, but it fit with the story better at this point.  
It's all part of my master plan to rule the galaxy! *mwuhahaaa***

**Nicholas Glass and Quala'Oro are OCs created by Levi Matthews for _Finding a Way_ and are used by permission.  
**


	4. Seeing Red

3: Seeing Red

"Keelah!"

Tali could barely sense her surroundings as she writhed in pain. It eclipsed everything else in her mind and smothered her perceptions with its overbearing presence. Her suit alarm, still blaring impotently in her ears as warnings about multiple breaches stamped themselves over her visor, had long been tuned out by her agony. The shadows at her shoulders, half walking and half carrying her toward their destination, mattered not in the face of the burning sensations that surged through her body. She felt herself being led to a table, though lying on it gave her no respite from her throbbing veins. As the shadows released her, she could barely hear snatches of conversation around her.

"Careful... arm..."

"Dear God... Mordin... patches. Quickly-!"

"Shep... attention..."

"No... first..."

"Damn it!" The pain was worse than anything she'd felt in her lifetime as she began to pant uncontrollably. A light began to shine on her as the suit's alarm was suddenly silenced. In its absence, she was finally able to hear the rush of voices around her.

"Suit compromises sealed. Should prevent further infection."

"Help me strap her down, we can't risk her doing that again."

"Understood, pain and toxin causing uncontrolled spasms. Correcting."

"Watch out for her left arm."

Tali's right arm, which she hadn't realized was flailing uncontrollably, was wrested onto the table's surface. Her left was gently laid down as a new wave of pain flared from it. In between the flashes of agony, she dimly sensed as her wrists were bound in place.

"Suit patches holding. Multiple entry wounds on abdomen, left leg, left arm. Need to download diagnostic data from suit, ensure section seals are not compromised."

"I told you this was a mistake, Commander. The signs all said she wasn't ready for-"

"Damn it, Miranda. Don't you think it's hard enough on him as-is?"

"I consider it lucky that the commander's even breathing right now, Vakarian. Once again, no thanks to her."

"Enough! Must insist upon silence. Will need to decontaminate room in order to proceed, please leave."

"Go on, Commander, let Mordin and me help her."

Tali opened her eyes to see one of the shadows hovering over her, blocking some of the light that flooded her visor. The whiteness of the light washed away the details of its face, save for the deep blues of its eyes. The shadow grew larger as she felt a hand wrap itself around her right one.

"Tali..."

"Johnnnaaaaaugh!"

A new surge of pain rippled through her body as her vision began to burn blue. The same aura wreathed the shadow bending over her suddenly vanished. An unearthly scream forced its way out of her throat as she screwed up her eyes, her agony once again refusing to allow her to see.

_Oh no..._

"Shepard!"

"Chakwas, need sedative!"

The suit's alarm began to blare again as a prick needled its way into her bouts of physical anguish. Her breathing slowed as the ache lulled from its tempestuous fury to that of a mild storm. Tali's thoughts began to slow as a different alarm started going off in her suit.

"Her vitals are crashing. Mordin, get me that defibrillator!"

"Indeed. Also getting drug cocktail used for Miss Oro's injuries, unit of quarian blood. Will need to counter side effects of toxins while synthesizing dextro-appropriate cure."

"Just hurry with that defibrillator, Mordin. Commander, you need to leave."

_Cure? Toxins? Leave?_ Lethargy began to overtake Tali's body and mind as she struggled to reopen her eyes. _But... I never told John..._

Her eyes slammed shut, and she knew no more.

* * *

**[The previous day]**

Tali paused to absorb the sight of Nos Astra, its many towers gleaming in the light as Illium's sun, Tasale, began its slow descent into the horizon. Streams of aircars wove their way between buildings, occasionally glimmering bright orange as they caught the star's rays. _It's so much like the Wards..._ But she had to admit, having a real star complemented the view much better than the nebula surrounding the Citadel's arms.

"Sure is a nice view."

Tali nodded, taking comfort in the sound of the man's voice. "Not many quarians ever visit Illium. They banned the fleet from visiting the system decades ago, after a dispute over Beregale's minerals." She was initially glad she had taken Kasumi's advice and volunteered to come ashore with Shepard and Garrus, but some of her enthusiasm had been curbed when an asari at the port had met them outside the Normandy.

"Don't let the looks fool you. Turn down the wrong street and this place gets just as dangerous as Omega." Garrus had noticed that his companions had stopped walking. "Come on, we're almost to Liara's office."

Tali stifled a groan as she turned away from the view. Shepard had been in a relationship with the asari back on the first Normandy, one which had lasted until his demise at the hands of the collectors two years before. While she was certain that they hadn't contacted each other since the commander's resurrection, her imagination had gone into overdrive upon hearing the news that his ex had set herself up as a powerful and influential information broker on the planet.

The last time she had dealt with one, the infamous Shadow Broker, the quarian had been cornered by assassins in an alley on the Citadel. Sure, her contact had betrayed the broker, but she was still wary for betrayal. Her mind worked against her as she walked, alternating between serving her thoughts of what the asari would do if she found out about her feelings for John and unbidden visions how Liara would react to seeing John in the flesh.

_Liara might want him back. Remember how emotional she was after the funeral? She might be jealous, maybe even enough to consider you a threat. What if she already knows? She always seemed so perceptive back on the original Normandy, and she's got even more resources now. She could sabotage any sort of chance you've got without breaking a sweat, maybe even send people to make sure it doesn't happen. Remember what Quala said about you and John on Freedom's Progress? She said you looked like you wanted to do him right then and there. Do you think she's found out? Actually, forget that. Imagine what Liara will want to do when they're reunited._

Tali shook her head before the train of thought could develop any further.

_I'm not looking forward to this._

* * *

The aircar came to a stop, allowing a lone figure to exit. He quickly took note of possible threats as he stepped down: three security cameras, a pair of LOKI mechs on patrol, and a trio of FENRIS robots. Not a problem in a straight-up fight, but allowing them to call in reinforcements would be... problematic. His voice carried a low rumble as he spoke, like the sound of a krogan tomkah crunching over gravel in the Tuchanka sun. "Thank you for your assistance Seryna. I'm afraid this is where we must part ways."

"The bitch deserves what she's got coming to her. Tear her apart for me, Thane."

The drell briefly pondered her statement as the aircar took off behind him. _No, it is not my place. Inefficient and inexcusable._ The drell bowed his head as he considered the task before him. Two towers, guarded by an unknown amount of Eclipse mercenaries, stretched into the sky before him. The nearer of the two was only partially finished, as evidenced by the construction crews laboring several stories above him. His target was bound to be well-defended, holed up in a penthouse within the completed skyscraper next door.

"Amonkira, guide me to her. Let my aim ring true and my senses remain sharp as I seek my target. Arashu, protect these workers from harm as I engage my enemies. They are innocent, and will need your loving arms in the coming hours." He stopped before continuing his usual prayer, neglecting to request Arashu's protections for himself. Even the mother-goddess would not be able to protect him now.

Not that it mattered to him at this point.

* * *

"Watch out!"

Detective Anaya jumped away from the doorway just in time to avoid an Eclipse merc, the unfortunate asari literally screaming past her as she was Thrown into the door frame next to her. The body crumpled into a heap at her feet, with spine and arms bent at unnatural angles. She looked to the source of the flying woman, seeing a pair of asari in an office that overlooked the warehouse.

"Ilse, Solana: cover the door. I'm going up to the office." The two officers grunted an acknowledgement as she slowly stepped forward. She could see the two asari in the office begin to pace around the room as they stared at each other. Soon, she was within earshot of the two women.

The first voice was stained with disbelief and uncertainty, its owner quaking as she held her gun. "Those were my best troops."

The other was unnervingly calm, despite the lack of weapons. Her voice was cold and imperious as she spoke. "Tell me what I need to know, and I will be gone from here." The first asari began to back away as she spoke again. "Where did you send her?"

Anaya stopped just outside the door to the office. She knew better than to interrupt a justicar during her assignments; being mistaken for an attacker would not go well for her.

The first asari spoke again, fear now causing her words to waver like tree branches in a tempest. "You think I'd betray her?" She glanced at the doorway, looking right at Anaya for the briefest of moments before shaking her head. "She would hurt me in ways you can't imagine."

The other asari switched direction, slowly closing the distance as she responded. Her next words sent a chill down Anaya's spine, and she knew that her hair would have stood on end if she had any, like humans. "The name of the ship. Your life hangs on the answer, lieutenant."

The merc's voice found a semblance of strength in a final act of defiance, her gun rising as the words grew in volume. "You can kill me, but one of us will take you down, justicar!"

_Oh, bad move._

Anaya watched as the Eclipse mercenary was Lifted off her feet. The woman's arms flailed helplessly for a split second before she found herself Thrown out of the office's window.

_Damn, that's certainly gonna ruin your day._

The justicar calmly strode to the window, using her biotics to glide down to where the recently-defenestrated merc had landed. Anaya rushed down from the office doorway, signaling to the other two officers as she caught up to the justicar. As she watched, the asari placed her boot on the mercenary's neck.

"What was the name of the ship she left on?"

The answer was coughed, but somehow still audible despite the presence of her shoe. "Go to hell!"

The justicar held her ground as she paused for a moment. "Find peace in the embrace of the Goddess."

Anaya knew what was going to happen next, but looking away didn't keep her from hearing the mercenary's neck snap as the justicar twisted her boot. _Let's hope I can avoid having her do that to me._ She nervously approached as the justicar stepped away from the corpse. The woman's cold blue eyes burned into hers as she approached.

"My name is Samara, a servant of the Justicar Code. My quarrel is with these Eclipse sisters, yet I see three well-armed people before me. Are we friend or foe?"

Anaya resisted the urge to bolt right then and there as she took a calming breath. _Just tell her the truth, and she won't hurt you._ "I'm Detective Anaya of the Telavi Precinct Security Force, and these are officers Ilse and Solana." The justicar took a step forward, but her face remained impassive. _Well you're still alive so far,_ Anaya thought as she continued. "We're investigating the murder of a volus named Dakni Kur."

Samara nodded. "Our investigations are not mutually exclusive, it seems. A fugitive I was tailing sought refuge with these Eclipse, and I have reason to believe that one of them was responsible for the murder of your volus."

_Oh boy, here comes the moment of truth._ "About that, my superiors are worried about you inciting an interspecies incident. They've ordered me to place you under our custody until you decide to leave the planet."

Samara's gaze burned through her like a laser through butter, causing her arm to tremble. "I am in the middle of an investigation, detective. They have information that can lead to the capture of a dangerous fugitive and murderer. Are you aware that the Code compels me to bring them to justice, no matter the nature of any opposition that stands in my way?" The asari held up an arm as biotic power began to course over her already-blue skin. "The Code views any attempt to restrain me as hostile action, and I cannot let the trail of evidence grow cold."

_Shit, shit, shit!_ "No!" Anaya reacted before her mind caught up with her mouth. She nervously cleared her throat. "What I mean is, they want you to come to the station while the investigation continues. In the meantime, the highly-capable officers behind me-" Anaya noticed as Solana flinched at the name drop. "-will continue to investigate the murder directly. They can also search for the whereabouts of your fugitive during the investigation."

"You risk a great deal by following your orders, detective." Samara's biotics flared for a moment, but died down as she lowered her arm. "Fortunately, I will not have to resist. My Code allows me to cooperate with you for one day. After that, I must return to my investigation."

"I can't guarantee I'll be able to release you that soon."

"You won't be able to stop me."

The justicar began to walk with the officers back toward the station, though none of the three dared to come within half a meter of her for fear of doing anything that could be taken as "hostile action".

Officer Ilse spoke up, "How long are we talking, in terms of a day? Like Citadel-standard or on Illium time?" The other two officers semiconsciously lengthened their strides upon hearing the inquiry.

"One Thessian cycle, starting from when you stated your intention. However, I can leave peacefully if you can discover the name of the ship that the fugitive was smuggled out on."

Anaya released a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding. _At least I have about 27 hours left to find this ship._ "By the way, there isn't any chance I could just not be around when you decide to resume your investigation?"

"Any guard or officer who premeditatively abandons their post is seen as a threat to the safety of the public at large."

"I thought not," Anaya bitterly laughed. _I finally meet a justicar, and she just might kill me if this investigation doesn't proceed quickly enough._ "Today must be my lucky day."

* * *

John Shepard hadn't been sure of what to expect when the door to Liara's office opened, but if he'd had an idea, it definitely wasn't what he sight that was before him.

A hologram of a human male stood in front of the asari, whose back was turned to the door for the moment. The man quelled under her gaze as she spoke, her tone carrying equal measures of honey and venom. "Have you ever faced an asari commando unit before? Few humans have." She grabbed a datapad as she prepared to sever the connection. "I'll make it simple: either you pay me, or I flay you alive." Her voice lost its singsong quality as she concluded, "With my mind."

John took a step inside as the holographic image faded. The footstep echoed through the room, an unexpected quality that the asari had no doubt desired. She turned to face the unannounced guests, her biotics flaring as she raised a hand. However, her face of emotionless determination melted to one of surprise as she identified the visitors. "Shepard?"

"Expecting the Shadow Broker?" Garrus hadn't been able to resist the chance to chip in.

"You have no idea, Garrus," Liara replied, her eyes locked on John's face. "Nyxeris, hold my calls."

John took a step forward as he noted her appearance. Her strides were confident in her formal dress, a far cry from the socially-awkward woman who had appeared so out of place in her combat armor two years before. His mind blanked as she strode toward him.

John remembers the last time he had seen her walk towards him with such purpose, how the flames of his passion had raged into an inferno when she entered his quarters two years before. _Her eyes are filled with concern as she speaks. "I do not know what is going to happen on Ilos. I hope we will stop Saren, of course, but part of me fears we are already too late." Shepard notices a tear welling up in the corner of her eye, but she blinks it away as she continues. "There is something I must tell you, in case we fail."_

Back in Liara's office, the two of them had closed the distance to each other. She gently grasped his hand in hers, checking it with an analytic eye while her other one found its way around his back. John notices the forgotten coals within himself, still glowing faintly with the ghost of their previous warmth.

_She brushed off his reassurance: "Saren might already have the Conduit. It is time to be completely honest with each other." She takes an unconscious step forward as she continues. "These could be our last moments together. Our last chance to show each other how we feel." The asari took Shepard's hand in both of hers, gently coddling it as she gazed into his eyes. "I want this to be special."_

She looks up from his hand as she pulls him closer. He can feel her breath at this distance, its warmth bathing John's face in her aroma as he stokes the coals within himself. Her scent pulls him forward, further away from reality.

_She kisses Shepard, grasping at the back of his head as her breath suddenly becomes ragged. A thin whimper escapes her throat, throwing untold gallons of gasoline on the blaze. "I have never been more sure of anything in my life. Will you join with me, Shepard? Let our minds and bodies unite."_

They come together with a kiss, but there was no more fuel to be found- neither passion nor lust to get the flame back to roaring like it once did. A gust of wind rushed down and killed the last of the embers within John as they broke apart.

_Shepard admires her form as she lies below him in the nude, still trying to catch her breath as she continues to bask in the afterglow. Her blue skin seems to glimmer in the low light of his cabin as she slowly opens her eyes. She takes a few deep breaths and manages to sit up, a look of sincere awe and affection in her eyes as she whispers to him. "By the Goddess! That was incredible, Shepard."_

_Shepard grinned back as he gave her a soft kiss. He whispered back to her as he gazed into her eyes. "You were incredible."_

John opened his eyes at the same time as Liara. There were no grins to be shared this time, no lingering sparks that still tried to deny the inevitable. He wanted to say something, but she silenced those thoughts with a soft shake of her head. There was nothing to be said. She looked away as she walked back over to her desk. "My sources said you were alive, but I never believed..." She turned around, her composure firmly in place once more as she masked her sadness with a smile. "It is very good to see you."

* * *

Tali fought to remain upright as her mind and body refused to believe what had just happened. _No..._ Between the vertigo that had stricken her head and the leaden weight that had delivered a sucker punch to her gut, it was altogether miraculous that she was still standing. She leaned against the door frame for support as the room tilted under her, attempting to look at anything but the two people embracing one another in front of her. Mercifully, their moment didn't last long; Liara was soon back at her desk, _smiling_ at the commander as she engaged him in small talk about how she became an information broker. The room slowly righted itself, but the pain still lingered in her stomach, stronger than any gunshot she had had the misfortune of receiving over the past three years. _Please get me off this planet._

"You know, Liara, you could always come with us," the human said.

The quarian's stomach dropped further down toward her feet. _Now she's coming with us. I knew it was too good to-_

"No, Shepard."

_What?_

"What?" the Spectre echoed.

"I can't help you. I've got more important things to worry about here."

_What?_ The quarian started trembling as the source of her stress switched from sadness to anger.

John's face switched to an expression she couldn't recognize. "What is it? Assassins tailing you? Politicians in danger?" He leaned closer. "The collectors?"

Liara shook her head. "If you want to help, I need someone with hacking expertise. Someone I can trust." As the asari sat down, Tali looked daggers at her. "If you could disable security at key points around Illium, you could get me information I need. That would help me a great deal."

_That's it? What about helping him? You're not the only one that needs information._

John sat down in front of Liara as he queried the asari, "Hacking a terminal sounds pretty easy. Why do you need me?" Tali nodded in agreement at the sound of his words, but didn't take her eyes off of her as the asari gave her answer.

"I don't know anyone else I can trust," she said as she looked down. "Hacking the security node won't get you the data, it just creates a minor glitch in the system." She met his eyes again as she continued, "You'll have a short time to find a local server left vulnerable by that glitch and upload the data to my system. I'm leaving my own system vulnerable so it can be imported during that short time."

_This lazy bosh'tet wants him to run around doing this crap for her?_ Tali was beginning to hate the room and all it stood for. Shepard however, had no such sentiment.

"If it'll help you, I'll take care of it."

"Like hell, you will!"

Liara was shocked by Tali's outburst, but it was nothing next to the flabbergasted expression on John's face. If she hadn't been so royally pissed, Tali would've fallen over laughing at the sight. However, the asari was far from amused, and began to rise from her chair.

"Ahem." Garrus cleared his throat before Tali could sow more tension into the room. "What she means is that _we_ can take care of the data for you." If it was possible to convey both shock and intense loathing in astronomical measures simultaneously, Tali definitely did so as she faced Garrus. Whether because of her features being obscured by her opaque visor or because he avoided looking directly at her, the turian was unfazed. "A quarian engineer and a former C-sec officer should have no trouble with the task. But Shepard here needs to find two people: a drell assassin named Thane Krios and an asari justicar who goes by the name of Samara."

Liara blinked and sat down. "Yes, that would be best Garrus. The terminals are spread across the commercial district. When you hack one, a server will open somewhere nearby for a short time. You can download the data from there, if you hurry." Garrus nodded as Liara turned to Shepard. "An asari named Seryna downstairs had contact with your assassin earlier today. She left with him about two hours ago, but she should be back-" She consulted a datapad for a quick moment. "-In about twenty minutes. Justicar Samara came back to Nos Astra from Thessia two days ago. Her code dictates that she must check in with a legal authority when she arrives at a settlement. You should talk with Tracking Officer Dara in the transportation hub, she will know where Samara went from there, but I can guarantee she hasn't left the planet yet."

Shepard had also recovered from Tali's outburst by that time. "That was fast. You knew all that off the top of your head?"

Liara grinned, a sly grin all too similar to the one John was famous for. "I'm a _very_ good information broker, Shepard."

_That damned asari._ Tali stormed out the open door before she could endure any more of Liara's presence while John said his goodbyes.

"Are you okay?" Garrus had also taken his leave fairly quickly, falling into step alongside her.

"I'm fine, Garrus," she lied. "Just point me to the first terminal."

* * *

Thane gazed down from the rafters at a trio of Eclipse mercs. One guarded the elevator ahead, the only way up to the bridge connecting the towers without either using a crane or risking getting shot down by rocket launchers. The other two led a group of salarians into a side room. The lone guard turned around, clearly focused on his radio as the others herded the workers.

The drell carefully slunk down to ground level, sneaking up behind the lone human. He hadn't brought silencers for the sniper rifle and submachine gun he carried; they would only slow him down and he didn't expect his stealthy entrance to last for long.

_Silent approach from behind. Check shoulder to prevent turning. Grip chin and base of skull. Neck-snap._

The human became limp in his arms as he overheard the man's last directive over a much-too-loud radio. "Kill the workers! We're not taking any chances."

_Damn._

He sprinted toward the other two mercs: a pair of asari. He focused on the right one first, who had turned at the sound of his footsteps.

_Warp to neutralize barriers. Deliver kick to back of knee. Grab shoulders and place own knee in small of her back as she staggers. Grip chin and scalp. Neck-snap._

The last merc leveled a shotgun as he released its companion's corpse.

_Scimitar, eight-round capacity per clip. Dodge first shot with dive. Sprint away from second wild shot and counter with sustained SMG burst to drop barriers. Take cover behind crate to avoid third and fourth shots. Biotic Throw to stun target. Close distance. Biotic-enhanced punch to knock opponent down. Step on hand to prevent further use of firearm or biotics. Double-tap to head._

A female voice then yelled over the radios of the dead mercenaries as the shots echoed around the room. "We have confirmed intruders on levels one and twelve. Take care of it you imbeciles! If you see anything that's not wearing yellow or a mech, then I want it dead NOW!"

Thane looked at the salarians, who had taken cover in the storage area while he fought the mercenaries. One of them emerged from behind the door frame, waving a hand in gratitude. "Thank you, I thought we were-"

_Seal and lock door. Install scramble protocol to prevent Eclipse entry._ Thane took no joy in trapping them, but he knew it was either that or risk their deaths at the hands of the guards. He entered the elevator, making sure to jump through the service hatch in its ceiling during its long ascent. Only when he heard the sound of gunfire in the car below as the elevator came to a stop did he ponder the finer points of Nassana's order. _Who are the other intruders?_

* * *

Shepard activated his helmet radio as Grunt and Jacob ensured that the mechs were really "dead"; Jacob had noted that the legless ones had a tendency to crawl around and explode if ignored, and there was no point ignoring the potential threat. "Miranda, the LZ is clear. You can bring in the rest of the squad now."

"Rodger that Shepard." A second aircar swung into view, parking itself just above ground level to allow Miranda, Mordin, Kasumi, and Zaeed to exit. It had been hard enough to fit the krogan in Seryna's aircar, but the fact that Thane was taking on two towers full of mercs alone didn't sit well with the commander.

"Listen up!" he barked, getting the group's attention. "We have an unknown amount of Eclipse and mechs inside and a drell to find. Keep a clear head, cover each other's asses, and look out for any of the build crew on the way. I don't want them hurt if I can help it. Mind the exploding mechs while you're at it. Understood?"

The squad drew their various weapons, nodding in acknowledgement.

Shepard hefted his shotgun. "Alright then. Let's find us an assassin."

* * *

"Remind me again... why I'm the one... who's doing all the running..."

Garrus' breathing was labored as he slowly walked up to Tali, who had just started hacking the next terminal. She was not amused however; he had unwittingly broken her concentration right before she could crack the last firewall. She looked at her omni tool in dismay as an additional four firewalls were erected before she could recover. She shook her head as she suppressed a growl. "You _did_ volunteer us, remember? Besides, the shopkeepers wouldn't take kindly to seeing a quarian sprinting through a busy marketplace."

"Point... taken..." Garrus panted.

Tali gave a dismissive wave of her hand as she went back to work. They had been going like this for the past few hours, with the quarian hacking terminals while the turian would run off in search of the exposed data and forward it to Liara. Her bad mood from seeing the information broker had persisted, however, and she didn't bother to tell Garrus that she was on the final terminal that the asari wanted hacked. She'd even stopped admiring the scenery, despite the terminal locations being placed all over Nos Astra's scenic commercial district.

"There you are, you little bosh'tet!" Tali tapped a final line of code on her omni-tool's display and was delighted to see the signal data from the exposed terminal somewhere in the area. "You're on, Garrus!"

"Spirits... the one time... I wish... you hacked slower." Garrus took one more deep breath and sprinted away.

Mercifully for the turian, the final data cache was close by. Tali heard her comm beep as Liara spoke to them from her office. _"That should be the last one."_

"Ohthankgoodness!" Garrus breathed over the line. Tali could see the turian across the courtyard slump onto the console in front of him.

"I hope you got what you needed from that data, Liara." Tali bit her lip, trying to rein in her anger.

_"Yes, Tali. This is exactly what I needed. This data confirms my suspicions about the Shadow Broker."_

"Hmmm?" Tali didn't trust herself to say anything more.

_"He's placed an agent somewhere nearby that's been undermining my operations around Illium. He's referred to only as 'The Observer' though- none of the agents even know what species he is. I have a list of suspects though. This data has helped me narrow the list down to a list of five agents, which are only referred to by their species."_

"Mm-hmm?" Tali didn't like where the conversation was going.

_"I need you to help me narrow down the list. There's a few more terminals scattered around the area that include messages shared between the suspects and with the Observer. I know you two can help me get to the bottom of this issue."_

_What are we, your lackeys?_ Tali silently seethed.

Her thoughts were interrupted before she could vocalize her anger. A long moan was heard over the line, its maker too exhausted to apply syllables to the sounds escaping his mouth.

_"Don't worry, Garrus. You won't have to run for these ones,"_ Liara reassured the turian. _"Thanks for the help."_

A second whine echoed over the comm, though this one was noticeably less discontent than the previous one.

_I couldn't have said it better myself,_ Tali thought to herself as she cut the link. The turian shook himself as she walked over. She sighed at the sight. _At least she's not wasting John's time too._ "Come on, Garrus. Let's get you some food and an energy stim."

The turian eyed her as if she'd just uttered a grave insult. "That was just for looks, Tali. I just wanted her to stop talking."

She folded her arms. "Bullshit."

Garrus gave an honest, if tired, laugh. "I see Ken's been teaching you some new words."

* * *

The squad carved its way through the building's lower levels, overwhelming many of the mercs just by sheer numbers alone. However, the Eclipse had begun to mobilize by the time they reached the third level. Jacob and Kasumi had been injured in a particularly vicious crossfire involving several biotics and an enemy engineer at a choke point on the fourth floor, though Mordin had already seen to them. They limped behind the squad as John trudged onward with Grunt at the front of the pack. The waves of mercs were taking their toll on the injured though; Kasumi had to fire her weapons one-handed and Jacob's burn wounds didn't look pretty. Shepard was beginning to consider sending them back when they hit a stroke of luck.

"Elevator appears to be active. Likely meant to reach upper floors quickly."

John suppressed a "hallelujah", allowing Jacob to fill the role for him as he approached the call button. _Wait a minute._ His hand paused an inch away from the holographic interface as he turned to face the squad. "Kasumi, you wouldn't happen to have any flashbangs left would you?"

The thief nodded as she took a grenade out of her pocket with her good hand. "Expecting company, Shep?"

"Yes. I want you to toss it as soon as the door opens, then stay in cover while we take care of anything inside. Jacob, you too."

The man winced as he attempted a shrug. "You won't hear me complaining."

"Zaeed, Mordin: I want anything that's not a drell in there to burn. Hit the biggest one in there with a warp too if you can, Miranda."

"What would you have me do, battlemaster?"

John turned toward Grunt. "Whatever the hell you want."

The krogan let out a low chuckle as he touched the call switch. "With pleasure."

They took cover as they waited. A soft **ding** announced the car's arrival as the door slid open. A loud crack accompanied by a flash announced that Kasumi had done her part, and they rose to see a krogan and two humans stumbling blindly. Mordin and Miranda targeted the krogan with their powers as Zaeed's grenade lit the other two on fire. He lifted his assault rifle. "Suppressing fire!"

The two humans wilted under the fusillade, unable to draw their weapons before they were put down. The krogan began to stand, a guttural roar emanating from its mouth.

"I am krogan!"

Grunt charged in, headbutting the merc clean off its feet. He leveled his shotgun at its head. The fallen krogan's skull erupted into a bloody mess with a pull of his finger.

John shook his head as he called out orders. "Jacob, Kasumi, Miranda, and Mordin: I want you guys in the back of the elevator so the rest of us can take any fire when we get out."

The elevator ride was mercifully quick, and only a single unsuspecting merc had awaited them at the top of the ride. They filed out silently as he looked out the window, clearly in the middle of a conversation with another squad.

"Where's the assassin?"

He jumped at the sound of Shepard's voice. The man cautiously turned around, as if hoping to see anything other than seven guns pointing at his face. He had no such luck. "Damn it."

"I suggest you answer the goddamn question," Zaeed spoke.

"No idea, and I wouldn't tell you if I did."

Shepard had no time for the merc's surprising sense of integrity. "There's only two ways you're getting out of here. Coach." He gestured back at the elevator. "Or express." He stepped forward, causing the man to back into the window. "Your choice."

The man shook his head in defeat. "Last elevator that came up was empty, and we haven't had any contact with him since. All we know for sure is he hasn't tried crossing the bridge yet." He folded his arms. "Not that he'd be dumb enough to try it."

"How far's the bridge from here?" John took another step forward, pressing his advantage.

"Straight ahead and up the ramp. You can't miss it." The merc waved his arms in the air, seemingly annoyed. "I have nothing else to say to you. Are we done here?"

A loud gunshot echoed through the room, causing all of them to jump.

"What was that?" the merc asked as numerous guns pointed his way once more.

John waved them down as he drew his shotgun. "Move it, merc. The lower levels should be safe enough for you."

* * *

Thane slowly wriggled his way out of a ventilation duct, grasping hold of an exposed I-beam in the rafters. He eventually worked himself into a sitting position on the beam, allowing him to survey his surroundings.

_Six mechs, currently inactive. Two salarians in side room, unarmed. Lone human Eclipse merc, brandishing pistol at the salarians._ He carefully drew his sniper rifle then, shifting his body so he could fire without falling. The crosshairs danced around the human, as if magnetically repelled. He took a calming breath, slipping into a memory that allowed him to focus.

_Stormy winds tear at my face. Twin discs launch into the sky. A hanaar flashes silver as I gaze down the scope. "Only the red one," he says._

"Only the red one," he echoed, pulling the trigger.

The salarians jumped back in shock as the human's head erupted in a shower of gore before their eyes. The one who had been nearest to the merc simply stared at the cadaver while the other quickly scooped up the fallen pistol, frantically searching for the hidden sniper.

The sound of additional weapons fire filled the area, bringing the stunned salarian out of his stupor in time to seal the side room before the mechs came fully online. Thane looked to the source: a squad of people with what appeared to be customized (or, at the very least, unique) armor components. _Freelancers?_ he thought for a moment. However, their leader, a human whose combat-scarred armor appeared as the embodiment of resilience itself with its well-worn components, soon put that theory to rest. The human barked out a few quick orders, prompting the group to unleash a series of coordinated biotic and tech attacks upon the mechs and their previously-hidden Eclipse backup. They worked like no unit Thane had ever seen, efficiently carving through their enemies better than any group (mercenary or military) that he had come across during his own contracts. Within moments, it was over. He ordered a trio of them to make sure the mechs were destroyed (_A wise tactic_) as he arranged the rest to cover the door where the salarians had hidden. Thane raised his rifle again, prepared to protect the innocents from this unknown man and his squad. The door opened as he sighted the man's head. _Only the red one._

Unfortunately, he wasn't the only one pointing a gun at the man. _There's no clear shot,_ he realized as one of the salarians hefted a pistol at the man. Thane watched as the man made a hand signal to his squad, prompting them to put away their weapons. _This is... unexpected._ The man spoke, though the drell was too far away to hear his words. Soon enough, the salarian relinquished his pistol. _Most unexpected._ The man spoke with his squad some more, eventually directing the salarians back toward the elevator with three members of his own squad: a dark-skinned human, a human in a body suit, and a third salarian.

As the rest of the human's group went upstairs, the drell pondered what he had just seen. The man was efficient, capable, and has an eye for helping innocents. He hadn't seen anyone so willing to help an innocent in such a situation while he was on the job. Or at least not since...

_Sunset eyes, defiant in the scope._

The drell blinked, preventing himself from falling completely into the memory.

_I must meet this man._

* * *

"Get down!"

The squad followed Shepard's order, diving behind crates as a quartet of rocket drones fired at them. He aimed his own rocket launcher as the projectiles flew past him, impacting on the bridge and building behind him. Over a dozen of them had awaited his squad on the bridge, along with a few footsoldiers. He had let Zaeed and Miranda advance, the veteran and biotic tearing through the grunts while his own Grunt helped him down the hostile mechs. The missile he fired took down one as another was taken down by a concussive round from Grunt. He then reached for another missile, hoping to take down the last two drones quickly.

There were none.

"Damn it," he swore as he put away the empty weapon. He spared a glance behind him, watching as a rocket streaked over Grunt's head. Surprisingly, the krogan didn't even need to duck to avoid the projectile.

_Wait a minute..._

John traced the path of the missile, seeing where it had impacted.

It had torn a small hole in the bridge.

And there were a lot more around that one.

_Shit!_ He frantically drew his assault rifle, firing on the nearest drone without concern for cover. "Everyone, shoot the drones!"

"Goddamn it Shepard, just had to make things interesting didn't ya?" Zaeed said as he fired his own rifle at the drone. It went down in a burst of flames as they redirected their fire at the final one. "Miranda, don't worry about that merc!"

She finally got the hint as a fourth stream of rounds was poured on the drone. It too went down in a cloud of smoke.

Only this cloud came from a rocket.

John fired fruitlessly at the missile as it soared overhead, blowing another hole in the walkway. The damaged section of the bridge fractured, exposing the bridge's steel skeleton. An unearthly screech echoed from the far end of the bridge after the final rocket impacted. He felt a sense of vertigo for a moment, then was jarred off his feet as the bridge shook. He pushed himself off the floor, noticing in horror that part of the walkway had buckled.

"Move it!" Miranda yelled. "The bridge is collapsing!"

John jumped to his feet as Grunt sprinted by him. The krogan fired his assault rifle at a merc as he chortled to himself, "Glorious!"

John fell into step behind the krogan, throwing his own assault back onto the magnetic strip on his back as the pair ran toward the far end of the span. The bridge continued to groan as its surface gradually began to incline.

"Jump!"

He wasn't sure who had yelled it, but he obliged, leaping with Grunt as the floor gave way under them. The bridge plummeted below, leaving them falling through open space as they reached out with their hands. The krogan managed to grab hold of the ledge in front of him, and began to haul himself up. The commander mirrored his movements, reaching for the ledge.

And missed.

_No..._ He reached out fruitlessly, trying to grab the ledge, a pipe, anything that could support him.

A strong pair of hands gripped his wrist as he grasped at the air.

"You always gotta be this goddamn epic Shepard, or were ya just feeling frisky today?"

John breathed a sigh of relief as the man hauled him up. "Just one of those days, Zaeed."

The veteran grunted as John managed to regain his footing. He performed a quick head count as he stood up. _Yup, everyone's here._ "Thanks for the heads-up by the way."

"What heads-up?" Miranda cocked her head to the side as Zaeed offered a similar look of puzzlement. "Zaeed barely had time to grab you and I just barely made it off that thing before it fell."

"Doesn't matter," Grunt growled. "So long as we can keep fighting, I don't care if it was some flying food-monster that dripped magic sauce on us that got us out." He looked at Shepard. "Besides, the assassin's probably in the asari's office by now, since we killed off all her mercs."

John nodded. "You heard him, let's move."

* * *

"The bridge is collapsing!"

The drell froze as he clung onto the unfinished underside of the walkway. He was most of the way across the span, a safe distance from where the rockets had impacted the bridge. _I'm not close enough to the far side,_ he realized. Thane scanned his surroundings, a relatively flat metal surface that ran the length of the bridge and an air vent catching his eye. _It'll have to do._

He activated the magnetic soles on his shoes. They were intended for zero-gee however; they weren't strong to oppose planetary gravitation by themselves. He needed to additional help if his plan was going to work.

He mustered biotic energy within himself, quickly gathering strength as the bridge groaned in protest. He cast a Lift field, focusing the dark energy back onto himself. His hands released hold of the bridge in front of him, and he could feel the effort taxing him as he struggled to keep the field active.

_Now or never._

He planted his feet on the flat surface, trusting the magnetic shoes to give him the grip he needed as he held the biotic field. He didn't dare take both feet off the bridge, lest he slam into the bridge or release his control on the field that kept him from falling to the streets far below. Instead, he quickly walked along the grate, keeping at least one foot "down" on the bridge at all times. In this way, he made it to the open vent, allowing himself to collapse inside the opening. He looked back, seeing the bridge begin to twist in the wind as it collapsed. He saw the human from earlier, his armor gleaming in the pale light of the coming dawn as he followed his krogan squadmate. However, they weren't moving fast enough to make it off the collapsing span.

"Jump!"

The word had escaped his lips, compelling them to leap as the bridge gave way. He turned away before he could see the result of his lapse in professionalism. _This shaft should take me straight to her office,_ he thought, noting that part of the shaft turned almost vertically upward.

Thane squeezed himself along, trying to keep his moves silent as he climbed. Soon he could see light streaming in from a trio of grates before him. He made his way toward the middle one, peering between the metal panes.

Sure enough, his target was there. Nassana Dantius was speaking to the mystery man from earlier, monologuing about how she had tricked the man into killing her sister years before.

"It's not you I'm looking for," the man said.

The drell closed himself off from the conversation, focusing on the bodyguards in the room. _Four. I may actually survive after all._

Thane closed his eyes, tapping into another memory. _The door is broken. A slight breeze tugs tattered curtains. Irikah on the ground, her clothes fouled and torn. One sunset eye open, the other replaced with a bullet wound. Kolyat cries in the corner. "Where were you, Dad?"_

The drell felt the unbridled rage from that night cloud his senses. His mind became detached from his body, moving without his input. He saw the biotic nudge on one of the other vents that drew the mercs' attention. He saw the surprised faces as he danced across the room, killing with ruthless efficiency. The last of Nassana's bodyguards fell and the room spun. He could see the asari in his arms, shock in her eyes as he drew his gun.

**Bang**

The gunshot awoke the drell from his battle sleep. He was acutely aware of the surprised humans and krogan before him, as well as the gagging asari in his arms. He gently placed Nassana on her desk. He knew that it was his body that had done the damage, and that she had tried to kill innocents. It still didn't excuse him though. He bent over in a prayer pose. _Kalahira, please hear me._

The man spoke to him, but Thane ignored the question. "Prayers for the wicked must not be forsaken."

Another human male spoke up from behind the leader. "I doubt she'll be missed."

The drell looked up. "Not for her, for me."

* * *

"It doesn't make sense."

Tali looked over at Garrus as he considered the data on the terminal in front of him. The comm line buzzed to life as Liara asked the question that had come to Tali's mind. _"What do you mean?"_

"The krogan, the vorcha, the batarian... none of them make sense as the Overseer. They're all male, and from what I can tell the Observer is a woman. My gut tells me there's more to this."

The asari sounded shocked. _"But my assistant got me the information!"_

"Did she now?" Garrus queried. Tali wondered about the strange expression on the Turian's face

_"Nyxeris gave me the information... Nyxeris, could you come in here for a moment?"_

Tali tilted her head as the asari suddenly cut the link. "What was that about?"

Garrus evaded the question as he began to walk. "If I'm right, then you'll find out when we get there."

She silently fell into step alongside the turian as they walked over to Liara's office. The secretary was mysteriously absent as they walked up the stairs.

"I wonder where she is," Tali mused. "You don't think that some bad intel got her fire- By the ancestors!"

The door had opened at their presence, revealing a body on the floor in Liara's office. A large pool of blood had formed around the secretary's fresh corpse, which Garrus and Tali took care to avoid stepping in. The quarian found her voice once more. "What happened here?"

"Nyxeris was the Observer, Tali," Garrus answered. "Probably placed by the Shadow Broker to spy on Liara, hence her codename."

Liara nodded as she sat down at her desk. "Indeed. She had some rather interesting data on her that was ready to be sent at a moment's notice. She was also very talented, though her barriers needed practice. Practice I'm afraid she won't be getting."

Garrus hummed an acknowledgement as he faced the asari. "I take it you're going to use this info against the Broker."

"Yes. Now I can gather information, peel away layers of lies, and shine light into the shadows. And when I find the Shadow Broker..." She slammed her fist for emphasis. "I hit him with a biotic field so strong that what's left of his body will fit into a coffee cup."

"Is that all you really care about?"

The asari raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

Tali uncrossed her arms, planting them on Liara's desk as she leaned forward. "We're going to help John with what could in all likelihood end up being a suicide mission to stop the reapers, and you're telling me you'll spend the whole time sitting in an office dreaming about revenge?"

"Watch your tone." The asari's lip curled as she growled her warning.

Garrus attempted to intervene. "You know, I think we should check and see if Shepard's back. Don't you agree, Tali?"

She ignored the turian. "Look at what you've become, Liara. This isn't the same person I knew back on the Normandy! What happened to the woman who actually gave a damn about the galaxy, who cared about helping John instead of being tangled up in a quest for vengeance?"

Liara stood up, her skin flashing for a moment with dark energy as she leaned over the table herself. "She died, Tali! She died watching him drift away as that ship exploded. She died protecting his body from the Shadow Broker and the collectors. She died as the Broker kidnapped her last friend and ally to make an example out of him."

"So did he, and at least he still knows right from wrong!"

"Okay, break it up you two!" Garrus forced himself between the two women, sticking his arms out over the desk to hold them back.

Tali spared Liara one last glare before she stepped back. "He doesn't deserve this, least of all from someone like you. Come on, Garrus." The asari was flabbergasted as Tali turned around. For the second time in less than a day, she stormed out of the asari's office. She had barely gone down the stairs just outside the door, however, before a hand grasped her shoulder.

She was soon pinned to the wall as Garrus revealed himself to be the limb's owner. "What's your fucking problem, Tali?" he demanded. "You can't keep doing stupid shit like that, especially around someone as powerful as Liara."

Tali struggled in his grip, wishing that her shotgun wasn't pinned between her back and the wall. She grunted in frustration and yelled back at him. "It doesn't matter anyway!" She quietly cursed her weak immune system for the umpteenth time, annoyed that she couldn't at least try to bite the turian off of her. "Why do you care?"

Despite Tali's shouting Garrus kept his own voice level as he answered. "Because I don't want to see my friend smeared across the floor in an office somewhere. I understand that you weren't yourself back on Haestrom but this was something else entirely." Tali thrashed violently at his mention of the planet, but the turian's grip held. "Now I'm not letting you go until you answer my question. Why are you so pissed off?"

Tali stopped struggling. Her next words were barely above a whisper as she looked into the turian's eyes. "You mean you didn't even see it?" Her voice got louder as she continued, climaxing in a yell that was loud enough to distort the relayed sound from her suit's microphone. "Right there, in front of both of us- keelah, in front of that damned _secretary_. Don't tell me you didn't see it!" She slumped to her knees as Garrus released her. Tali could tell that some of the people walking by had been bothered, but their interest ended when they saw that the shriek came from a quarian.

At the moment, that suited her just fine.

She could feel a strand of warmth making its way down her face as she spoke again, her voice heavy. "Even now, he'd still choose her. Just look at what she's become: lies, deceit, treachery. She can't even walk down the street without seeing potential enemies... I mean I didn't want to after Haestrom, but some part of me still hoped that he... That _we_..." Her voice trailed off into a round of quiet sobs. "She doesn't deserve someone like him."

"Oh, spirits. Is that what this is about?" His expression softened as the quarian snuck a slight nod in between her fits of tears. Garrus sighed as he knelt down next to her. "Look, kiddo. Back when I first joined C-sec, I had a stint pulling guard duty at the Larathos facility on Kithoi Ward. You see a lot of faces down in processing, but you begin to see patterns among the departing inmates." Tali buried her visor in her arms, but decided against muting the turian for the moment. "Some are surprised when nobody shows up, while a few have families that stick it out for them. But just because they showed up doesn't mean they'll stick around." Tali half-grunted, half-sobbed at this. She was having trouble seeing how it was relevant. "I've seen hundreds of recently-reunited couples kiss each other exactly like that, Tali. Most of them end up splitting within the month, and we find out when the inmates end up coming right back." He paused for a moment, and the quarian chanced a quick look. "Sometimes they try to make it work, but they never end up happy together." He looked back at her as he continued. "Whatever feelings they had for each other are gone, Tali. There's no point getting bothered about it."

He took a deep breath at this point, prompting Tali to fully surface. She stifled a sniffle. "How do you know that for sure?"

He got back to his feet. "The lucky couples look a little different."

She cocked her head to the side. "How so?"

"They tend to have this one look that really sets them apart from the rest." His eyes flashed for a moment as he reached out a hand. "I believe you mortals call it 'happiness', or some such nonsense."

Tali couldn't help but chuckle a little as he helped her up. She shook her head as she dusted her suit off, trying to avoid making eye contact with the turian. "I suppose you want me to apologize to her then."

He surprised her with a short laugh. "I said it was stupid, not wrong."

* * *

Miranda watched as Shepard came back from Tracking Officer Dara's office. The man was clearly tired from the recent raid on Dantius Towers, but he masked his fatigue well as he strode over to the party.

"Samara's at the Telavi Spaceport, about a three-hour trip from here via aircar. There's a public shuttle leaving for there in just over an hour, but I want to make sure everyone who's going can mind their manners." His gaze passed over the people who had participated in the fight, lingering a bit longer on Grunt as he spoke. "This is a justicar we're dealing with, and she won't hesitate to attack anyone who commits crimes in front of her." Kasumi made a mock-pouting face at this news. "I want to bring a small team that's fit for diplomacy here."

Miranda spoke up, "I nominate myself and Mr. Vakarian. His experience at C-Sec makes him invaluable for this sort of operation."

Shepard raised an eyebrow. "Garrus I can understand, but a loyalist for a terrorist organization?"

She crossed her arms in response. "I've done my homework, Shepard. Her Code still has allowances similar to our 'innocent until proven guilty'. My history with Cerberus won't be a factor so long as I don't become a threat to the innocent."

Shepard nodded. "Fine, the rest of you can return to the Normandy, but tell Joker to be ready to pick us up." He then held a finger to his ear as he radioed the turian.

Miranda found herself alone with her thoughts as the rest of the squad departed. She contented herself by walking up to the transportation hub's railing, searching the now well-lit skyline for a particular building. She soon found her target, a slim spire that widened near its summit to support an observation deck and lounge. Its antiquated human inspirations clashed maddeningly with the nearby asari architecture, though she took some comfort in its familiarity.

Despite the circumstances where she had first seen the tower's inspiration.

* * *

_The Pupil watched as her sensei marched in front of her, alongside a man in a slate-gray suit. The two of them led her down the hall, into her training space. The practice mats were already out, spread across the floor. A horrible sensation of deja vu settled in her stomach._

_"Her training is complete, Mr. Lawson," her teacher said. "She has learned the techniques faster than anyone I've ever known. Thrown in with her previous experience with boxing, judo, and muay thai, I'd say you'd be hard-pressed to expand her ability to defend herself."_

_The Pupil stayed silent. She couldn't bring herself to warn the man, despite having heard similar words uttered by half a dozen men before him. The suited figure spoke. "Are you certain?"_

_The teacher nodded, his eyes confident. "There is nothing else I would be able to teach her."_

_The man made a quick motion with his hands. "A pity." In less than a second, a pair of men had sprung in and grabbed the instructor's arms, holding him for a moment as a third plunged a knife into his neck._

_The dying man mouthed out a single word as the Pupil looked on: "Why?"_

_The suited man took a handkerchief out of his pocket, wiping a speck of blood that had landed on his shoe. "You said yourself that you couldn't teach her anything else." He looked on in disgust as the instructor collapsed in the men's arms. "Dispose of him, then send the men in."_

_The Pupil held back a tear as the men carried away her latest teacher's corpse. The suited man then fixed his stony gaze on her as he pointed to the mats. "Miranda, show me what you've learned."_

_She nodded, trying to push her emotions aside. "Yes, Father." A dozen men walked into the room as she walked to the mats. They all dwarfed the teen, ranging in size and physique from that of a nightclub bouncer to a professional heavyweight boxer._

_Henry Lawson pointed at one of them, a man who looked for all the world like a professional bodybuilder. The man nodded, stepping forward to face the girl on the mats. Henry then took a seat on a padded chair. "Begin."_

_She allowed the man to strike first, his fist flying clumsily toward where she stood as she deftly dodged it. She was far quicker, striking the man in his abdomen. He stood his ground, making to grab her in a clinch. She had none of it, weaving around him as she struck out at the larger man. She caught him with a series of strikes to the face, stunning him. The man was finished off with a low kick, tripping him to the floor as the Pupil struck him a single time in the windpipe. The man rolled away from her gagging as she stood at attention, her eyes on her father._

_He frowned, pointing at another of the men. "Again."_

_The next man was also taken down in fairly short order, submitting as the girl trapped him with an omoplata. She heard one of the other men whistle as she completed the difficult armlock, which put extreme stress on the combatant's shoulder._

_Henry remained unfazed, pointing at two more of the men. "Again."_

_She was becoming tired by this point, but she continued to use her prodigious agility and strength to great effect. It took much longer to take down the pair of attackers, however. Henry's face looked even less amused as he pointed at another pair. "Again."_

_Her moves were definitely slowing by this point. The pair managed to get some serious hits on her, decorating her sweat-drenched form with several bruises. She emerged victorious nonetheless. The Pupil turned toward the remaining six men, wondering which trio she would have to fight first._

_To her surprise, Henry made a beckoning motion with his hand._

_All six stepped forward as he spoke._

_"Again."_

_They were merciless with their attacks. While she was able to avoid a few attacks, even using one guy's momentum against him in a throw, she knew it was a losing battle. Her movements slowed as the battle dragged on, collecting several more cuts and bruises. She could no longer tell where sweat ended and blood began as she fought to keep them from grabbing her. As if reading her mind, one of them wrapped her from behind, hoisting her off her feet._

_The Pupil glowed blue, Throwing the man back. Before she could turn her biotics against the rest of the group, however, she found herself being Lifted off her feet. The ground rushed up to meet her with a harsh blow. Another set of arms pulled her off the floor, taking care this time to control her arms. The others then proceeded to wail on her, their many blows leaving her barely conscious. She lost track of time as the men struck out at any part of her that wasn't already subject to another's fist. A small whisper whistled through her lips._

_"Please... stop..."_

_Henry furiously rose from his chair as the men backed away from the submitting girl. She had seen such rage on his face only a few times before._

_They never ended well._

_"Weak," he spat at her._

_He delivered a final punch to her stomach, causing her to cough blood. He wiped her blood off his suit with the handkerchief, his face displaying nothing but disgust at the sight before him. He nodded, and the man holding her unceremoniously shoved her back down to the floor. She couldn't tell if it took seconds or hours before she heard his voice again._

_"You have been the most promising one so far. But you're still not strong enough to be a true Lawson." The other men walked away at an unseen gesture. "Let Niket in. I need to talk to Mr. Illusive about enlisting his assistance once more."_

_The doors opened, allowing a young servant to come in. "Oh my God... What happened to your daughter?"_

_Henry strode out of the room without a backward glance. "I have no daughter."_

_The Pupil moaned as her servant rolled her over. Through the bars on the only window, she could see a tower glimmering in the distance. A web of cables wound their way around its main shaft, terminating in a golden basketlike structure near its top. "What building is that, Niket?"_

_The man spared a brief glance to the window as he tended to her wounds. "That's Sydney Tower, the tallest building in the city." He stopped to grab a bandage for the cut that had opened up on her face. "People go up there all the time, to enjoy the view. I've never been though."_

_She closed her eyes, imagining seeing the world laid out before her. No walls to hold her in. No expectations to live up to except for her own. The pupil opened her eyes again, wishing she could be one of those blissfully ignorant tourists, who could have a hand in deciding their own fate. She looked at her servant and asked him a question: "What's it like?"_

_He gave her a puzzled look. "What's what like, Miri?"_

_"Living out there."_

_Niket paused for a moment, lost in thought. "Harder than you'd think."_

_She attempted to shake her head, but her wounds protested too much to complete the motion. "Harder than this?"_

_He had no answer for her._

* * *

"Garrus, good to see you."

"Well you know it's not a party without me."

Miranda awoke from her reminiscence and turned around, seeing the turian shaking hands with the commander. However, she rose an eyebrow upon seeing another person walking up. "I thought we were going for 'small and diplomatic'. There's no reason to bring a tech expert here." She crossed her arms as she glared at the woman. "Especially when she could be a loose cannon."

Tali turned and returned her glare, but Garrus intervened before she could utter a retort. "She'll be fine, Miranda." She looked over at the turian. "Don't forget, she's presented to the Council before. Not to mention the times she's been in contact with Anderson and Udina. And quite frankly, you never know when a tech could come in handy."

"True, but that was before her little 'accident' on Haestrom." The quarian hung her head, crestfallen. "Frankly, I'm afraid she'll do something reck-"

"Enough!"

John stepped in before she could continue. "She's a trusted member of the team. If she wants to help, then by all means she's welcome to. In the meantime, I'll ask for your opinion when I feel it's _relevant_. Do I make myself clear?"

Miranda struggled to keep her face impassive. "Crystal, sir."

Tali looked up at him, her eyes a little brighter than they had been moments before. "Thanks, John."

He spared the quarian a smile as Miranda turned away.

_You'd better be right, Shepard_.

* * *

John walked out of the police station, looking for a particular volus. Samara had been easy enough to find, but her hands were tied; her Code wouldn't let her leave without a ship name, and to have her join in the investigation directly would require a violent confrontation with her unwilling captors. _Damned politicians,_ he thought. He wanted to punch all of them in the face almost as much as the agenda-pushing reporter from the Citadel, Khalisah al-Jilani. _Well, almost all of them- Anderson's at least trying to do some good._

By that time, Pitne For had noticed the commander and his entourage. "Hello, Earth-clan. If you're interested in weapons I have a fine selection." The volus paused to take a deep breath, a loud wheeze audible through his vocal microphone. "Unfortunately, I'm not open for business right now."

"Why are the mercs after you?"

"I know nothing about any mercenaries, Earth-clan." He shook his head and his eye-lights blinked out for a moment as he took another breath. "I am merely an innocent merchant trying to make his way in life."

John stepped forward, kneeling down to the volus's level. "The Eclipse are hunting you, and there's a justicar in the station who might get the wrong idea if you keep withholding information. I suggest you start talking."

Pitne gave a defeated shake of his head. "You're right, Earth-clan. I'm desperate. *Wheeze* I've got angry mercs after me and now this asari justicar. *Wheeze* Let's talk." He waved the commander over to a secluded docking area nearby, continuing the conversation while he waddled away from the security station. "I smuggled a chemical onto Illium that boosts biotic powers in combat. *Wheeze* It also is toxic." John glared at the volus as he followed, but Pitne didn't look up. "I may have, um... *Wheeze* forgotten to mention that to the Eclipse. *Wheeze* So they are perturbed and want to kill me."

_That's despicable. No wonder they killed his partner._ John bottled up his distaste as the volus turned around. "I need a way into the Eclipse base. Help me out and I may think of helping you get out of this alive."

The volus nodded. "Very well. *Wheeze* I do have a passcard they issued me to bring my goods in. *Wheeze* Well, I had to return that one but I happened to make a copy." Shepard took the opportunity to crack his knuckles as the volus drew another haggard breath. "Take it, and be careful. *Wheeze* Each Eclipse sister commits a murder to earn her uniform. *Wheeze* They are all dangerous."

John took the offered card, taking the opportunity to fix the volus in a threatening stare. "So am I."

* * *

"Wait, stop!" An asari wearing Eclipse armor came out from behind a console in the service area as Tali and the others drew their weapons. Her hands were raised in the air as she nervously spouted an explanation for her presence. "I didn't fire my weapon once. I only pretended to because the other sisters were watching but I didn't really shoot."

She saw Garrus and John lower their weapons but she and Miranda didn't buy her story. "Why are you wearing the uniform, then?" the human queried.

"I'm not one of them, I'm new!" Shepard began to walk toward the asari but Tali felt that something was still wrong here. "I thought being Elnora the mercenary would be really cool, but I had no idea what they would be like." She saw as the asari's hands drifted down to her sides, one of them reaching behind her back.

"She's got a gun!" Garrus yelled.

Tali didn't share his hesitation, firing a shot from her pistol at the merc's arm as she drew a gun on John. The asari's SMG clattered on the floor as he raised his own pistol. "You chose your side, Elnora. And you lost."

The wounded asari spat as she knelt down. "Screw you, bastard, and your buckethead bitch!" Her body began to glow with biotic power at her words, but the group held no reservations about her hostility by then. The four of them fired, their rounds tearing her apart before she could unleash whatever attack she had mustered.

Tali took a cautious step forward, keeping her pistol trained on the downed asari. The body didn't stir, but she fired an additional round into its head anyway. _Nobody points a gun at John and gets away with it._

"Commander, I've got something." The three of them turned toward Miranda, who had accessed a nearby terminal. "You might want to hear this."

The voice of the recently deceased mercenary then played from the console, her tone joyous. "Well it's official, Little Baby Elnora is finally a full-fledged Eclipse merc. I earned my uniform last night when I killed that ridiculous volus." The four of them gave a collective shake of their heads as the recording continued. "Up close, exploding rounds. Blew the little bastard's suit wide open." The woman paused to chuckle darkly. "I can't wait to see some real action. Next time I go home, my friends are going to be so jealous."

Garrus spoke up as the audio log ended. "Detective Anaya will be interested in this."

"Agreed," Shepard replied. "Forward the recording to her and tell her that we killed the perp while looking for the ship name."

"Done, Commander," Miranda stated. "Shall we get going?"

"Let's."

Tali spared a final glance for the fallen merc as the rest of the squad filed out. _Your friends won't get the chance to hurt John, you bosh'tet._ She drew her shotgun, slotting in a fresh thermal clip.

_I promise you that_.

* * *

Anaya jumped as her omni-tool began to ping. She opened the message, quickly scanning the contents. "It looks like Shepard got the murderer. They even managed to find a recorded confession after they took her down." She looked up at the asari next to her, whose expression remained placid. "Does that mean you can join them yet?"

Samara's answer was deceptively calm. "The Code says that I cannot leave until I know the name of the ship, detective."

The detective looked back down at her desk. "So much for that. How long do we have until you have to return to your investigation, by the way?"

The justicar's expression shifts for the briefest of moments, but her mask of indifference reformed before Anaya could read anything from it.

"You don't want to know."

* * *

"Spirits, not again!"

Tali watched as Garrus took cover, a series of heavy rounds tearing into the air around him. The gunship that was harassing him then swooped over the bridge they were standing on, trying to get a clear shot at the squad as she squinted against the light from the setting sun. Rounds from her pistol pinged off its armor as it performed the flyby, unable to find purchase in any weak points.

"Do you have any missiles left, Commander?" Miranda's voice was hurried as she raced to a different piece of cover.

"No joy. I had to use them all on the bridge at Dantius Towers." John took a moment to fire at the gunship with his assault rifle. Surprisingly, the gunship didn't unleash another barrage from its chainguns in response. Tali wondered at the pilot's inaction for a moment, when she saw the turret below the cockpit begin to glow.

_Keelah._ "John, get down!"

He obliged, just in time for a missile to streak through the air where his head had been mere moments before.

"This isn't working," John said. "We need a new plan."

"Too bad you can't just Pull this one out of the sky too," Garrus called as he fired a sniper round at the ship. "Its engines are in better shape than the one I weakened on Omega."

_And get John shot at again? I don't think so._ Tali pulled up a command on her omni-tool, syncing the trigger with her suit. A tone from the omni-tool confirmed the sync as a dialogue flashed across her visor.

**Execute process?**

Tali stepped out of cover, backing out into the open as she fired with her pistol. _Come on, look at me._ The dialogue flashed again as she fed in a new heat sink.

**Execute process?**

"Tali, what are you doing?"

She heard the yell, but ignored it as the gunship's machine guns whirred to life. The quarian sprinted away from the fire, keeping her gun pointed at the ship as she burned through another clip. _Just a little longer._

**Execute process?**

The gun stopped firing, and the quarian raised her left arm, her gaze fixed on the gunship's turret. Sure enough, it began to glow right as she pointed her finger.

"Now!"

Her suit activated at the sound of her voice, sending a transmission through her omni-tool that sabotaged her target: the rocket that had just been armed. The nose of the craft vanished in a flash of smoke and flames, consuming the cockpit as the now-driverless vehicle plummeted toward the ground.

Garrus let out a low whistle as Tali holstered her weapon. "I guess that shotgun's not the only ace up your sleeve."

"Since when do turians whistle?" she asked, tilting her head.

"Since you found something to do that lived up to our high standards." He folded his arms. "What can I say? We're tough to impress; it's part of the job description."

Miranda was less impressed. "That was reckless and you know it, Vakarian." She glowered at Tali as she stomped over from her cover. "She's lucky we're not carrying her out of here in pieces right now."

"Funny, I was under the impression that she saved your sorry ass, too." Garrus sniped back.

Shepard stepped between the two, cutting their argument short. Tali struggled to comprehend his expression as he looked at her; it wasn't one she had seen on humans before. _Not sadness. Guilt maybe? It doesn't look like surprise. Why am I still learning to read faces two years after my pilgrimage?_ The soft, low sound of his voice hushed the doubts. "Tali, please don't do that again."

_He's concerned about me,_ she realized, remembering that it was the same look he'd used in Liara's office as he asked to help the asari. Her insides twisted uncomfortably, causing her to momentarily forget about the jealousy and anger for Liara that had plagued her all day. _Keelah, I'm such an idiot._ She met his gaze with a nod. "Okay, John. I won't," she promised.

His expression relaxed at her words. "Come on, we need to move before Samara has to leave."

The group chanted an affirmative, tightening their hold on their weapons. They moved on, stopping when they saw a lone volus attempting to break into a Tupari machine.

"Never thought I'd catch a volus thieving," Tali wondered aloud.

The volus turned around, staring at her. "Thief? You stand before a biotic god!" A blue aura shimmered weakly around him at his words. "The merc leader's in the next room and I'm gonna wipe the smile right off her blue face." He wobbled uneasily. "Right after I get me an energy drink."

"You're going to get yourself killed," John pleaded. "You're better off just going home."

"You dare doubt my power?"

"Allow me, Shepard." Garrus walked up to the volus, giving him a small nudge. The squat alien fell over with minimal effort on the turian's part. "He's been drugged, most likely with at biotic-enhancing stuff that Pitne For was selling." He shook his head as the volus got up. "Best way to get them to listen is to show them how fucked up they are. Provided their brain still works, of course."

The volus bowed his head. "You're... right... I should go... home."

Garrus shook his head at the sight of the addled creature. "How much do you think they gave him, boss?"

The volus looked at the turian as he waddled away. "About... three grams. Why do you ask?"

The turian shrugged. "No particular reason."

They continued through the door next to the vending machine, guns drawn.

Sure enough, they had another firefight on their hands. Tali took cover, firing at a group of mercs with her shotgun on the way. She had seen an asari standing behind a desk in the midst of the room, but didn't want to attack her just yet. _It isn't like she's flinging toxic canisters at us._

She was forced to eat her words as the asari glowed blue. Sure enough, she lifted a canister, tossing it at Miranda. The woman dodged the attack, but the canister exploded into a mist of red dust. _I need to stop thinking like that._

She tried to content herself with killing off the rest of the Eclipse mercs, but her attention was drawn away again by the asari. Tali watched in horror as a container flew toward the commander from behind.

"John!"

He heard her yell in time, rolling to the side as he became engulfed in the mist. The man emerged a moment later: coughing, but still very much alive.

_That does it,_ Tali thought as she drew her pistol. _This bosh'tet is going down._

Rounds pinged off the asari's barriers as Tali emptied a full clip at the woman. She stopped to slot in a fresh clip. From the corner of her eye, Tali could see a metal crate glowing blue. She ignored it as she continued to fire her pistol at the merc leader.

_Just a little longer..._

To her dismay, the merc's barrier held as the asari made a motion with her free hand.

_No..._

Tali pivoted on the spot, seeing the metal crate now speeding toward her face. Her pistol felt slow in her hands as she realigned the sights on her weapon. By the time it was pointed at the container, she could clearly see the human characters "X-3" stamped on its side in bold font.

She pulled the trigger. The shot hit, but the container held together, spraying a stream red dust as it charged forward. It began to slowly fragment near the impact site, and she could see each and every one of the jagged metal shards heading straight toward her. The quarian's eyes went wide as she instinctively raised her left arm to protect her head from the inevitable impact.

"Oh keelah."

* * *

**Notes from the author:  
****Ouch, Tali... very ouch... x.o**


	5. Damn Door

4: Damn Door

Anaya shifted uneasily at her desk, trying to avoid drumming her fingers. She nervously glanced up at the clock for the tenth time in the past five minutes. _Less than fifteen minutes until I have to choose between saving my life and my career._ For her part, Samara had remained silent since Shepard's last update. The justicar sat next to her in a deep meditative trance, a look of peace on her face as a blue aura shimmered around her. _I wish she didn't have to shine like that. Makes me feel like she's about to Warp my ass into oblivion. I just hope that Shepard-_

Her omni-tool pinged, bringing her out of her thoughts. She quickly checked the sender ID. _Thank the Goddess!_ "It's from Shepard."

The justicar remained still. "Read quickly, detective."

Anaya knew it was an ultimatum. She frantically scanned through the text on her omni-tool. _Merc leader neutralized... Normandy coming... Evidence against Pitne For... "There!"_ She exclaimed the last word aloud, prompting the justicar to turn toward her. "The fugitive was smuggled out of Nos Astra three days ago aboard the AML Demeter. It's a human shipping vessel that runs a route spanning half the known galaxy." She looked up in dismay at the warrior. "They stopped on Sur'Kesh and the Citadel already. It's heading for Noveria right now, if the fugitive is still on board."

Samara closed her eyes, giving a soft sigh. "It is alright. Thank you for your assistance, detective." She looked back at Anaya. "I will now go straight to Nos Astra to board Shepard's vessel and leave the planet. I trust that will satisfy your superiors."

"Wait," Anaya said, looking back at the message. "His ship, the Normandy, is already on its way here. Docking clearance overridden using Spectre authority."

The justicar gazed with her unbreakable poker face, though Anaya suspected she was surprised. "That is unusual. I would not expect a man of Shepard's reputation to invoke his Spectre status outside of an emergency."

Anaya read through to the end of the note, looking at the evidence against the volus. The name of the merchant's "gift" to the Eclipse jumped out at her, prompting her eyes to widen. _Oh shit._

"It is."

* * *

"John!"

The yell, with that particular voice and inflection, had been engraved into his subconscious. It was a trigger for the Spectre, one that had meant only one thing to him ever since he'd first heard it two years before:

_Move your ass now!_

His body had already complied before he had time to consider blinking, the man rolling to the side before thinking about the fact that he was already behind cover.

If he hadn't, he would've been hit by the metal storage tank that had been sailing straight for him.

A red mist spread through the air around him as the tank burst, burning his eyes and lungs as he stumbled out of the cloud. He slammed his eyes shut and coughed heavily. _That wasn't the toxic stuff Pitne For was talking about, was it?_ He hacked again as the rest of his squad continued to fight off a wave of Eclipse mercs.

Or, at least, Garrus and Miranda did.

Tali was gunning right for their leader, a fury in her luminous eyes that the N7 operative had never seen before. She looked so driven, so focused...

But she wasn't paying attention to the canister rising into the air behind her.

The man tried to warn her, but all that came out was another cough as the man watched her turn toward the thing. The woman turned just in time to land a single shot, a glancing blow, as it flew toward her. Her arm came up, a futile effort to protect herself from the object. The mouthpiece on her helmet flashed briefly as she said something that was lost to his ears in the chaos of the firefight.

She vanished in a cloud of the same red dust that had engulfed Shepard mere moments before.

John sprinted directly into the cloud, wheezing the whole time as he ignored the rounds that glanced off his shield. His lungs screamed at him to get out of the crimson fog, but he persevered. He found his target, a dark figure on the ground amidst the haze of red. He gingerly picked her up, noticing that her wrist was making an unnatural angle with the rest of her arm. The quarian let out a soft whimper as he Charged out of the cloud and into cover near the back of the room.

"Tali, can you hear me?"

She responded with an ear-splitting scream as her body glowed blue. John's eyes widened with surprise, then slammed shut as the familiar feeling of a Warp ate away at his abdomen. The sensation was mercifully brief, but he began to feel lethargic as he took a deep breath afterward. He nearly dropped her as his vision started to blur.

_Did that red dust do this?_

He saw another canister of the red dust glow a soft blue.

_Not again._

John sent his own Throw at the minagen tank, causing it to spiral harmlessly into a wall. He then turned toward the offending merc leader. His head began to throb in protest, but he ignored the pain. The man summoned another Throw.

The asari flew into a wall of crates behind her, slamming through the metal cases like they were tissue paper.

John felt unsteady as he recovered. The attack had taken much more out of him than usual, and his muscles were crying out with exhaustion. His shields took a minor hit as the rest of the mercs turned toward him. He felt as if he was swimming as he whirled to face them, delivering another biotic attack.

The attack was several times more potent than his usual Shockwave, leaving craters in the ground as it traveled toward and decimated the rest of the mercs.

Tali suddenly felt much heavier in John's arms, and he nearly fell over. Garrus put a steadying hand on his shoulder as Miranda rushed toward the merc leader's desk. Her voice sounded as if it came from down a long tunnel to the Spectre. "I've got it, Shepard. Samara can come with us now."

John fought the gathering darkness at the corners of his mind, willing himself to remain conscious. He reached for his radio. "Joker, get your ass over here ASAP."

_"Sir, the Normandy's not cleared to dock there."_

"I said come here now Joker. Spectre authority."

_"Aye-aye, commander."_

The Spectre began to feel lightheaded as the room around him began to spin. He focused on Tali, the only proof that the world wasn't melting around him. His lungs continued to burn as he spoke. "Miranda, send a message to Anaya. Update her on everything." He stopped to cough again. "Including the minagen and Pitne For."

"Done." Another group of mercs poured into the room through the door they had entered from. A burst of fire followed Miranda as she took cover. "They've got reinforcements."

John glowed blue as he looked at the quarian in his arms. His vision was going in and out of focus, to the point that he could barely make out the swirls on her hood. His body was starting to tremble as he sank to his knees.

_I'm not strong enough for this._

He jumped as a round pinged off Tali's still-active shields. He turned, seeing an Eclipse vanguard closing the distance, shotgun at the ready.

_NO!_

The man lashed out at the asari with everything he had. The woman appeared to cringe for a moment, crumbling under the biotic assault.

_Images flash. A salarian dies quietly, barely known. An angry young voice yells in defiance. Pride flows as she dons the yellow armor._

The asari let out a bloodcurdling scream, her form suddenly flipping backwards as if struck by a hovercar.

"What was that?" Miranda demanded. Shepard, however, had risen to his feet. His now-clear vision focused on a merc in the center of the group assaulting them.

He unleashed the same energy on the soldier, though with more purpose this time. The man, along with two others near him, dropped their weapons as they were wreathed in purple energy. Without warning, they rose into the air like puppets on a string. Their arms were held out as if they were being crucified as their screams filled the air.

_A colony awakens, oblivious to the threat hidden within its own streets as he calls in the attack. His grandfather quietly polishes the rifle, a relic from his time with the hated Alliance. She winces as the asari yells a single word at her, pointing at the wretched form on the ground at their feet: "Kill!"_

They crumpled to the ground, lifeless, as the energy faded.

"Good God..." the Cerberus operative whispered.

John looked at himself, noticing that a similar purple aura had covered him for a brief moment before fading. _What the hell was that?_ He took a deep breath. _I'm better._ He coughed. _But it's not a permanent fix._ He looked past the devastation in front of him, pushing aside his distaste at what had passed through his mind. _Only one thing to do now_.

"Spirits..." Garrus was still dumbstruck by the display. Shepard, however, was already sprinting for the door. His arms gripped the quarian with renewed vigor.

"Keep up, and stay out of my way."

* * *

_"Oh look, it's the lovely daughter of Admiral Zorah vas nedas."_

_"You watch your mouth!"_

_The Girl ignored the jibe, tugging the suit of the quarian next to her as she continued walking. "It's okay, Quala. That bosh'tet doesn't know what he's talking about." Her father's work meant that he needed to constantly consult with experts throughout the fleet as he did his research. It wasn't his fault that he was rarely stationed in his own vessel, the Alarei, for more than a week at a time. He was simply too busy to stay there._

_Or with his own daughter, for that matter._

_Quala interrupted her thoughts. "I'd give you a piece of my mind if she wasn't holding me back, Sanir'Tovo."_

_The named quarian simply laughed, the bright yellow of his suit appearing sickly in the low lighting of the liveship's maintenance deck as he nudged a soldier standing next to him. "Well look at that, Prazza'Naal. I guess I do owe you half a shift on air scrubber duty. Miss Zorah really is spineless without that marine boyfriend of hers."_

_The Girl visibly flinched as she continued to tug her friend away from the man and his companion. In another universe, she might have taken an interest in Kal if he had stopped referring to her as "ma'am" all the time. As it was, she considered the idea laughable. That still didn't keep her face from burning at the insinuation. "Shut up, Tovo," she growled._

_"You can't silence truth, Tali'Zorah," he returned. "Especially when it concerns privileged people like you and your mother. Tell me, when was the last time you did any honest work, hyel'tet?"_

_The Girl's helmet hid her bared teeth as she whipped back toward him, her now-shellshocked friend forgotten. "I'm already one of the best damn techs on this fleet and you know it."_

_"A combat tech and hacker well-versed in theory, not an experienced engineer," the man coldly corrected, his eyes narrowing. "You're never utilized for anything other than emergencies. You don't design, build, or repair anything. Your piloting is laughable, at best. The closest you've come to the crops that keep us alive is the line in the Rayya's galley. That's without even mentioning that you've never even seen a geth, whether down the barrel of a gun or not." He stepped back to fold his arms. "Face it, your father let you and your hyel'tet mother off easy. You are nothing but a liability for us real quarians, plundering our scant resources while you wait for your one golden moment to-"_

_The rest of his sentence was cut off by the Girl's fist as it sank into his stomach. She didn't give him time to recover, delivering a second punch to his helmeted head. He deftly dodged the third blow, winding up a powerful punch in return. By that time, Quala had sprung into action. The young quarian attempted to tackle the much larger adult before he could strike the Girl, only succeeding in knocking him to the ground as she intercepted his blow._

_The Girl made sure that her friend's charge was not in vain. She landed a few more shots on him before standing up, her attention now focused on Quala. The barely-conscious man made no effort to stop her, nor did the silent Prazza, who narrowed his eyes as the Girl pulled Quala to her feet._

_"Keelah, Quala, he's twice your size! That was stupid and you know it."_

_The young woman laughed weakly, clutching her side. "Doesn't mean I didn't have to. I wouldn't be a very good hesh'nealan if I just stood there like him." She gave a slight nod toward Prazza, who was pulling Tovo to a sitting position._

_The Girl grinned fiercely as she pulled her friend into a tight hug. "No, you definitely wouldn't."_

_"This changes nothing," a voice rasped. The Girl glared at the previously-defeated man, who had climbed back to his feet. "You will never be able to do anything meaningful for this fleet, hyel'tet."_

_The Girl crossed the room, grasping a fistful of the man's suit as she looked him dead in the eye. "Spacing you sure sounds like it would be a favor to the universe."_

_"Tali'Zorah!"_

_The Girl cringed as she released Tovo. The four of them turned to face the speaker: a very angry Admiral Shala'Raan vas Tonbay. Her eyes were locked on the Girl as she excused the others._

_"Quala, go back to your quarters. You two can go back to your stations." It was not a request. "Tali, come with me."_

_The Girl bowed her head as she obeyed her surrogate-aunt. The next several minutes were a blur as the admiral led her down the corridors of the Rayya. Tovo's last words haunted her as she blindly followed Raan._

_"Shala, I wasn't expecting a visit."_

_The Girl immediately fell out of her stupor, gazing in surprise at the speaker. "Father? When did you come aboard?"_

_Raan shushed her with a stern gaze. "Tali was in another conflict with Sanir'Tovo. I caught her fighting him down in the service corridor this time."_

_"He was talking about Moth-" The Girl was cut off by a smack to the back of her head. Not strong enough to daze or unbalance her, but still powerful enough to get the message across._

_"Silence, Tali. There's no excuse for that kind of behavior."_

_Rael'Zorah stepped away from a nearby terminal to look at his daughter. His voice was calm and analytical as he addressed Raan. "Was she injured?"_

_The Girl shook her head as the other admiral answered. "No, but I'm surprised that Tovo and Quala were in good enough shape to avoid a visit to the hospital wing."_

_"She fought Quala too?" He asked the question as if it was no more important than what size wrench was needed for a repair._

_"No, poor girl helped Tali at one point. She's lucky Tovo's blow wasn't intended for her."_

_Rael nodded and turned back to the terminal. "Sounds like everything's perfectly fine, Shala."_

_"What?" the two women said simultaneously._

_"She successfully proved her physical prowess against an enemy, and her friend escaped no worse for the wear." An orange light shone from the terminal as he walked up to it. "Tali did everything she needed to."_

_"Keelah, this isn't you and Gerrel defying orders to save a ship Rael. This is your daughter we're talking about!"_

_The man was unfazed by Raan's outburst. "She will be a great asset for our cause someday, Raan. That much is clear."_

_"Not while she's starting fights with anyone she disagrees with, Rael. You must know that."_

_"She did what she had to do. Nothing else matters."_

_The Girl found herself distracted as the admirals continued to argue. Tovo's words again leaped to the forefront of her mind, causing her to mouth the hated syllables silently to herself._

_"You will never be able to do anything useful for this fleet, hyel'tet."_

_She knew there was only one way to prove him wrong._

_"I need a ship."_

_The Girl's soft voice startled Shala'Raan. "What did you say, Tali?"_

_"I need a ship," she repeated, with more confidence this time. "Because I'm starting my pilgrimage."_

_Raan's demeanor did a complete 180 as her eyes flashed. "But Tali, you've still got two years before you have to start your pilgrimage."_

_The Girl shook her head. "No, it has to be now."_

_"Just like her old man," Rael chuckled, ignorant to the concern in Raan's voice. "Shala, can you make the preparations? I need to finish this study."_

_"But Rael, she's not-"_

_"I'm ready, Auntie Raan."_

_Raan met the Girl's eyes. The determination in her voice prompted a sigh from the admiral. "I will get everything in order."_

_The Girl spared a last look at Rael as they turned to leave. The man was furiously typing away at the terminal, dead to the world around him. "Goodbye, Father."_

_The man remained silent as the doors closed._

_"Why, Tali?"_

_The Girl looked down at her hands, which had engaged each other in their own private thumb war. "It's just something I have to do."_

_Raan saw right through her evasion. "You don't have to prove anything to Tovo, you know."_

_"It's not him I'm worried about."_

_Raan nodded as she embraced the younger quarian. "Just promise me you'll stay safe, Tali."_

_The Girl closed her eyes and patted Raan's back, wishing that she could. "I'll do my best."_

_"I guess that's all I can hope for," the woman breathed as she released her. "There's something I must give you, before you go."_

_Raan reached into one of the deeper pockets on her toolbelt, pulling out a long package that had seen better days. A white and blue handle gleamed through a portion of the wrappings._

_"This..." The Girl trailed off as she carefully grasped the box. She didn't need to open it to know what was within. "This was my mother's."_

_The admiral nodded. "Laenya would have wanted you to have it, Tali. Her mother gave it to her when she started on her own pilgrimage."_

_The Girl choked back a tear. There were no words to express her gratitude. She finally found her voice again. "I need to talk to Quala before I go."_

_"I understand. A vessel will be waiting by bay seven when you're ready."_

_"Thanks Auntie Raan. For everything."_

_"Keelah se'lai, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya."_

* * *

Samara stood on the docking ramp as a ship pulled in. The sleek craft was impressive, especially considering the humanity's youth in the eyes of the other species.

As if on cue, a trio of figures rushed toward her position. The leader, a human, was carrying a quarian in his arms. _Shepard looks almost dead on his feet,_ the Justicar observed. "Shepard, how bad was your dose?"

The human shook his head, as if trying to stay awake. "She needs help more than I do." He gingerly lifted the quarian a little higher. "Help me get her to the med bay."

_Her injuries are severe._ Samara could tell from the thin layer of red dust on her suit that she had been exposed to minagen as well. "The antidote that Anaya gave me will not work for dextro species."

The others rushed into the decontamination chamber as Shepard stood the quarian upright, supporting her weight on his shoulder. "Doctor Solus can figure it out."

The justicar grasped the quarian's opposite arm without comment, taking some of the weight off of the Spectre. Shepard pointed the way toward an elevator, directing Samara as they rushed through the ship. The five of them traveled down a level.

"Keelah!"

The quarian regained consciousness as the doors opened. She nearly wriggled out of Samara's grip as they guided her to another door. A pair of medics, one salarian and the other human, stood at the ready.

"Careful," Shepard grunted as they laid her on the exam table, "Her arm is broken."

The human doctor's eyes widened as she looked at the pitiful sight before her. "Dear God... Mordin, I need twelve suit patches. Quickly!"

"Shepard will need medical attention as well," the asari informed as the doctors went to work sealing the suit.. "He and the quarian were poisoned. I have an antidote, but it would be toxic to dextro species." She drew a syringe that Anaya had given her.

The human doctor reached for the syringe and waved toward the commander. He shook his head. "No, you need to use it to make a cure for her first. I'll be fine in the mean-"

"Damn it!" The quarian flashed blue as a bolt of energy flashed from her uninjured arm. Several medical instruments on a counter nearby floated into the air right as the salarian finished the last patch.

"Suit compromises sealed," he announced as the human doctor rushed over to the offending arm, which was shaking uncontrollably. "Should prevent further infection."

"Help me strap her down," the other doctor pleaded. "We can't risk her doing that again."

"Understood. Pain and toxin causing uncontrolled spasms. Correcting."

"Watch out for her left arm," the justicar offered as she held the quarian's legs still.

"Suit patches holding," the salarian announced as they finished binding her. "Multiple entry wounds in abdomen, left leg, left arm. Need to download diagnostic data from suit, ensure section seals are not compromised."

The commander's other companions began to argue as Samara glanced at Shepard. The man hadn't walked away unscathed, his armor pockmarked with dents from his recent firefight. He slowly approached the operating table as the argument reached a crescendo.

"I consider it lucky that the commander's even breathing right now, Vakarian. Once again, no thanks to her."

_She does have a point_, she thought as she viewed the scene.

The salarian cut in before it could continue. "Enough! Must insist upon silence. Will need to decontaminate room in order to proceed. Please leave."

"Go on, Commander," the human doctor stated as the other two soldiers left. " Let Mordin and me help her." Samara reinforced their point by placing a hand on his shoulder.

_I wonder if..._

"Tali..." he mumbled, oblivious to the justicar.

The quarian's eyes settled on him as a moan escaped her lips. "Johnnnaaaaaugh!"

The room erupted into pandemonium as the quarian glowed blue. Before any of them could react, Shepard had been Thrown against the opposing wall. The doctors rushed to sedate the quarian as Samara pulled the commander to his feet. _I must know._

"Shepard, look at me," she ordered. To her relief, he was still lucid enough to obey. "I have an important question for you. Nod if you understand."

He obliged.

"After you inhaled the minagen, did you use a biotic power you hadn't before? One that had a purple energy?"

He nodded. _This is... troubling._

Before he could protest, the justicar swiped the syringe with the cure off the counter. His eyes went wide as she pressed it into his skin.

_But it's kept him alive at least._

"Do not worry, there's still enough for the doctors to work with. I must perform an oath of fealty to you, to ensure that I won't have to choose between your orders and the Code."

"Just hurry with that defibrillator, Mordin. Commander, you need to leave." The human doctor was rapidly pumping the quarian's chest, trying to buy time for the salarian.

"Indeed. Shepard, we must find somewhere vacant to perform the Oath."

An electronic voice came out of numerous speakers at once. "The starboard observation deck is vacant, if you wish for isolated quarters. It is to your left as you exit the medical bay."

_An AI? _She looked at the Spectre again as she considered the Code._ He is in poor health and I am providing care for him while the doctors are occupied. That will suffice until the Oath is complete._

Samara walked Shepard to the indicated room, laying him carefully on one of the nearby couches as she knelt before him. His eyes began to close as she spoke.

"By the Code, I will serve you, Shepard."

* * *

_John sat up, looking for Samara, for the doctors, for anyone who can say if Tali is alright._

_There was only White._

_The sound of clapping echoed through the space. "Bravo, commander."_

_He turned, seeing Kaiden Alenko walking toward him. The dead soldier beamed at him. "I knew you could do the impossible, but fighting like that while poisoned... And don't get me started with Haestrom."_

_"Is Tali safe?"_

_The man's smile was dialed down a notch, a secret hidden behind his eyes. "She'll recover. You got her to the docs in time."_

_John breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness. I just..." He closed his eyes for a moment and gestured at nothing in particular. "I don't want her to end up here."_

_"I understand, commander," the ghost replied softly._

_"I'm just glad I could save her." He took a deep breath and continued, "After a fight like that..."_

_Kaiden's smile slipped a little more as he trailed off. John noticed the sadness in his eyes this time. "She is safe now, right?"_

_Kaiden looked to the side, as if worried someone was watching. "I can't say much on that. Only that you've done well so far."_

_"Is she safe or not?" John demanded, his own eyes pleading with the dead man._

_A sigh, then, "It won't let me give any details, commander." The lieutenant gave a sad shake of his head. "It's not like I don't want to, I just... can't."_

_As if reinforcing his point, a Red presence made itself known. It focused on the Spectre, bringing forth a primal fear unlike any he had ever felt. Shepard could sense an insatiable hunger as the Red pulled at him. Kaiden stepped between them, shielding him. The Red vanished, the Spectre still very much whole._

_John slumped down, crestfallen. The two gazed off in silence for a time before he spoke again. "I thought about what you said last time. 'You have to save her so she can save you.'" He looked up at Kaiden. "Is it wrong if I don't care about being saved?"_

_The lieutenant looked confused. "Sir?"_

_"That Eclipse base, Haestrom, that time we got ambushed by husks on that derelict freighter... Heck, the alley by Chora's Den on the Citadel. I've been coming to her rescue ever since I met her." The soldier gave a long exhale. "Don't get me wrong, it's not like I mind helping her or anything. I just..." John trailed off, at a loss for words._

_Kaiden placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, prompting him to continue._

_"I feel like it just isn't enough," John continued. "I never wanted this for Tali. I mean, she was so innocent back when I met her. So happy, and full of wonder. She had lived a normal life for a quarian back then. Her father is an admiral, sure, but she had earned so much for herself- her dedication, her astonishing tech abilities, her selfless drive to help her people." He fell silent as he stared off into the White._

_"Her only legacy now is playing princess in a castle for a Spectre who can't seem to keep her safe. And all because she stumbled onto a recording of a traitor while on her pilgrimage." John shook his head sadly. "I can't help but feel like, somehow, I'm part of the worst thing that could happen to her."_

_Kaiden spoke up, "You're wrong, commander."_

_"What?"_

_"Time and space, they're not the same here. But I can still see things. Her mother dying before her time, for instance."_

_Shepard shrugged. "She didn't like to talk about that on the original Normandy."_

_"Her father being distant with her, to the point that he doesn't talk to her about anything other than her salvaging parts and data on the geth?"_

_"She told me he was very work-oriented. A lot of parents are like that."_

_"The fact that she searched aimlessly for four years on her pilgrimage before meeting you. How she found items that would have easily earned any other quarian passage onto the ship of their choosing. She had to pass them all up because they weren't worthy enough for an admiral's daughter."_

_John raised an eyebrow. "We touched on the subject, but she didn't say it was that long."_

_"What about the Admiralty Board that sent her with a trigger-happy, inexperienced, and disloyal squad to deal with an unknown situation? Who then tossed her straight back into the fire on a geth-controlled world for a worthless mission with a bunch of defenseless scientists and only a handful of soldiers to protect them?"_

_"I chalked those up to bad luck," the Spectre said. He gave a bittersweet laugh. "That and, you know, politicians."_

_"That may be more true than you think, but that's not the point I'm trying to make." He waited for the Spectre to look at him before he continued. "My point is her life's been anything but normal. And ever since you entered it, you've been one of the only good things she's had." The dead soldier grasped his shoulder, more firmly this time. "You're the only one strong enough to protect her from the ones who should have helped her all along. And that is something I can tell you."_

_John smiled weakly. "Thanks Kaiden, but I'm still worried about her."_

_The White slowly dissolves around him as he spares a last glance at his friend. Kaiden grinned as he vanished in a flash of light._

_"Tali's tougher than she looks."_

* * *

Tali slowly awoke, her body not wanting to shift from its comfortable position. She felt a bit colder than usual, but dismissed the feeling. _I'll worry about the suit temp later._ She stirred a little, her limbs feeling stiff. _I wonder why it feels so... soft. And my head..._ She felt a minor headache, similar to the morning after her day sharing drinks with Kasumi. She lifted her right hand toward her forehead. _I didn't let myself get drunk ag-_

She paused, her hand feeling not the expected solid glass of her visor.

Her hand felt _skin_ and _hair_.

Memories instantly flooded into her mind. Tali bolted upright as her eyes jumped open. She immediately regretted the latter action, as her vision was overloaded by the light in the room. The nearly-blinded quarian yelped as she covered her eyes.

An artificial, yet feminine voice chimed up. "My apologies, Tali'Zorah. I was aware quarians were naturally nocturnal, but there was little data on the extranet regarding the extent of your species' sensitivity to light." The flat electronic tone did little to convince her of the machine's sincerity. "I have dimmed the lights significantly to accommodate you better."

_Damn bosh'tet AI._ Tali opened her eyes, though much slower this time. "There's a reason our visors are so dark, EDI."

"Noted. I have forwarded a message to Doctor Chakwas so she can take the appropriate precautions."

The quarian looked around, noticing that the room had gone to the opposite extreme; she could barely see beyond her hands. "You can make it a little brighter. Just do it slowly."

"Tell me when to stop."

Slowly, the lighting rose back to a comfortable level for the quarian. It was a far cry from how bright it was when she had awoken, but she could now view her surroundings clearly. "That's enough, EDI." She stopped to examine the room she was in. Several electronic consoles towered around the room, though she could tell that they were not of a medical nature. They hummed with energy as she looked on. She could see a low dais at the far end of the room, its purpose a mystery. A privacy curtain stood next to the bed. The opaque sheet was undoubtedly obscuring the doorway. She could see a ladder sunk into the floor near the curtain, though the hatch it led through was sealed. "Where am I?"

"You're in the AI core room, adjacent to the med bay," EDI elaborated. "The ladder you see leads to a service corridor into the engineering subdeck. However, I have sealed the emergency bulkheads there to help preserve the sterile environment."

"How is it clean anyway?" the quarian asked, curious.

"Commander Shepard requested additional medical sterilizers for several rooms onboard while on Illium. The other rooms currently equipped with them are the medical bay, Mordin's lab, the crew quarters, both restrooms, the life support maintenance area, and the captain's quarters." The AI paused for a quarter-second. "I believe he expected something like this to happen."

Tali nodded as she looked back at her ungloved hands. Her pale lavender skin felt surprisingly smooth without the rubberized gauntlets she usually wore. She stroked a finger from her right hand down the back of her left, stopping just above the wrist. The rest of her arm was bound in a cast. "How badly was I injured?"

"You had two broken bones in your arm, as well as several shrapnel wounds along your left side. They also had to neutralize the effects of your exposure to minagen-X3," the AI dutifully reported.

"And how long was I unconscious?"

"Eight days, sixteen hours, forty-two minutes."

The quarian grunted an acknowledgement as she examined the rest of her clothing. She was dressed in a loose fabric, one she remembered was called a "hospital gown". While the garment covered most of her form, she felt far from secure in it.

As if hearing her thoughts, a part of her garment stirred behind her as she felt an icy blast along her back.

"Keelah!" she yelped, leaping to her feet as she prepared to strike whoever had dared to invade her privacy with her uninjured hand.

A metal device whirred innocently next to the wall, pivoting from side to side.

"I recommended that an air-conditioning fan was installed after you were moved here," EDI explained. "Temperatures in this room can exceed sixty degrees Celsius depending on how 'active' I am."

_No wonder Garrus always complained about wind._ The quarian shook her head and warily considered the AI's statement. _At least it isn't going to cook me alive,_ she thought sardonically as she slowly moved back to the bed.

She still felt very exposed. "Why am I wearing this?"

"Your _sh'rayan_ took extensive damage during the mission on Illium. Doctor Solus and Operative Taylor have been working to repair and upgrade it while you were unconscious."

Tali was surprised to hear the proper term for her species' environment suits. _Funny, my translator never gets it-_ Her eyes widened as she was hit with an epiphany. "Wait, are you speaking to me in Khelish?"

"Yes," EDI replied. "Between extranet references and the knowledge of Justicar Samara, I was able to learn the language fairly quickly. I find that it improves crew efficiency by up to five percent when I address them in their native tongue."

_Now it's learning my language? If EDI starts calling me its 'hesh'nealan', I'm deactivating it no matter what Miranda says._

The quarian cleared her throat. "Has anything happened while I was unconscious?"

"We have been tracking a missing survey crew through the Attican Traverse. Commander Shepard is currently groundside at a Prothean dig site on planet Kopis."

"Interesting," the quarian wondered aloud. "I'll have to ask him about that."

"If you like, I can have him visit once he's back on the Normandy."

"Really?" The quarian's voice dropped as she considered the offer. "I could get sick. And he might not like to see me in this state." Even so, her heart leaped at the prospect. She blinked, her next words coming in a whisper that even EDI had trouble detecting. "He'd see my skin."

Tali's cheeks flushed as she looked in horror at her hands and feet. "He'll see my _skin_!" she screeched, trying frantically to hide them in her gown. _My face!_ She searched for something, anything to cover herself, nearly tripping as she scurried around the room.

The AI was silent for a full three seconds.

"That is not what I meant. Allowing a visitor inside for an extended period would put an unnecessary strain on your immune system." The quarian stopped trying to squeeze herself into a narrow gap between two of EDI's mainframes. "An audio-only link would suffice, especially given that your omni-tool is embedded in your sh'rayan."

"Oh," the now thoroughly-embarrassed quarian said. "Yes, I would like that." She extricated herself from the tight enclosure. "There's something else I have to ask you about first though."

"Ready."

Tali nervously wondered how to word what she was going to request. Having her sh'rayan had meant she hadn't needed to ask the question in years. Her thoughts flashed to a memory of a brief conversation with Ashley Williams on the original Normandy. She looked down at her hands, which she was wringing nervously.

"EDI, is there somewhere I can... I believe the human term is... 'do my business'?"

"There is a bed pan under the cot."

Tali tilted her head in confusion. Though the words had been spoken in perfect Khelish, her mind had no answer for what the coupled yet very different nouns meant.

"A what?"

* * *

John climbed out of the M-44 Hammerhead, landing on the floor of the Normandy's docking bay.

"Always fun breaking a few flashlights, eh commander?"

Zaeed had already pressed the button for the elevator, and was waiting for him and Garrus to come over.

"Hah, that was nothing, Zaeed," the turian quipped as the elevator arrived. "Now Feros, that was a good bit of fun. Thorian plant-zombies excluded of course."

Shepard grinned as he stepped in, pressing the button for the CIC. "At least we didn't come out empty-handed this time." He pulled the Prothean sphere out of his pocket. The silvery orb hovered just above his hand. "No idea what it's for, but it does do this-" He poked it with one of his fingers, causing its surface to expand and contract. It also gave off a low humming noise.

Garrus folded his arms. "While I can't deny the wow factor, it doesn't seem to be all that useful."

John shrugged as he pocketed the device. "I'll hold on to it. Not like the Illusive Man will think it's 'important to humanity's survival' anyway."

The three of them shared a laugh as the elevator door opened, much sooner than they had expected. The trio was nonplussed as Zaeed stepped out. "Since when is the elevator this fast?"

The EDI terminal in front of him flickered to life. "Engineers Daniels and Donnelly applied an upgrade suggested by Tali'Zorah after finishing trials with the new cyclonic barriers. The elevator now operates at three times its former speed."

Garrus snorted with amusement. "At least that's another point against Miranda."

"Shepard," the AI continued, "She has regained consciousness. If you'd like, you can-"

"Garrus, crew deck, now!" John interrupted.

The turian shifted one of his brow plates. "Yes sir."

* * *

Shepard nearly ran over Doctor Chakwas in his haste to reach the med-bay. "Sorry doctor."

"No need, commander. I don't usually leave the office for lunch."

"No worries." His foot began to shift, betraying his desire to get past her.

Chakwas noticed the cue. "I won't hold you up any longer, Commander. Just use my terminal there and EDI will do the rest."

He gave a grateful nod as he moved to the doctor's chair. The door quietly shut itself as Chakwas left. "EDI," he asked as he sat down, "Is she ready?"

"One moment, Shepard."

Tali paced nervously across the room. The isolation was starting to get to her, and the wait felt been far too long. _I wonder when he will be back_, she thought. _EDI didn't give me a timefra-_

The AI's avatar sprang to life. The glowing blue orb startled the quarian, but EDI had been slowly increasing the ambient lighting in the room during the wait. By that time, Tali's eyes had adjusted enough that the image wouldn't hurt her eyes.

"Commander Shepard is requesting to speak to you."

"Put him on," she said, crossing to the terminal.

A soft tone played from it as the avatar vanished. "John, are you there?"

The Spectre breathed a sigh of relief, noticing how different her voice sounded without the suit. "Tali, you don't know how good it is to hear from you."

_Get a hold of yourself, Tali. He's just... glad you're alive_. Her cheeks warmed a little despite her attempted reality-check. "I can say the same. Having only an AI for company..." She paused to look at the hardware around her, which housed EDI's "brain". "Let's just say I'm a little uncomfortable with it."

_After her experience with the geth, I don't blame her._ "It's only temporary. Chakwas says you'll get out tomorrow."

"I never thought I'd say this, but I prefer my suit to being stuck in here." She crossed her arms, trying to keep herself warm. The fan was doing its job a little too well for her tastes. "Do you know when Jacob and Mordin will be done fixing it?"

"They should be done by dinner tonight."

"Should I expect any surprises when I get it back?" Her eyes narrowed.

John knew what she meant. "I made sure Miranda wasn't allowed around it. Even she won't refuse a direct order." _Not after what happened last time she tried_, he quietly thought before continuing. "I let Jacob add some armor-plated reinforcements though. I had Mordin oversee it so Cerberus couldn't throw in any listening devices."

_I thought that sounded odd, Mordin helping the armory officer._ "I appreciate the gesture. Still, I can't wait til I can come out."

He grinned a little. "You know you could could come out here to the med bay if you want. I could run the sterilizer in this room too," he jested.

She glanced longingly at the door. A hint of a smile played at the corner of her lips as an unbidden fantasy flashed through her mind. _Getting to feel those arms of his would almost be worth getting sick..._

_...And those abs..._

_...And his che_- She stopped, her imagination stamping a huge scar across his chest.

One that she had given him.

"Sorry John," she said with a shake of her head. "It's not that I don't want to. It's just..." Tali trailed off.

_She must be worried about how she looks. _"Feeling a little self-conscious?"

Tali nodded, before remembering that John couldn't see her. "Among other things."

"Like your immune system?"

She closed her eyes. "Let's just say it's safer this way." Tali was glad he couldn't read her thoughts.

John was mildly surprised as he felt a glimmer of hope in him die. _Well what were you expecting, anyway? It's not like she can spontaneously strengthen her immune system._

He decided to change the subject. "How's your arm feeling?"

She tested her wrist, rotating it as much as she could with the cast. "It doesn't hurt, and it looks like I've got most of my movement back. I'm surprised Chakwas hasn't had me on painkillers though, all things considered."

John remembers how she'd dropped into cardiac arrest the last time they had dosed her with a depressant. "It didn't seem like a good idea to put you on more meds. I... We were worried you wouldn't wake up for a while there."

Tali noticed the accidental "I", giving her imagination another fuel source. She silently wished she could lay her head on something other than EDI's mainframes or her fan-chilled pillow.

_Preferably, something roughly the same size, shape, and texture as John's shoulder..._

The scar invaded her thoughts again, causing her to shudder. "You weren't... hurt too badly, were you?"

"No," he said with a hint of surprise. "Aside from the minagen poisoning, I was still in pretty good shape."

"Even after I..." She could remember blue light, an unbridled power that threatened to tear her apart, and pain.

Not all of it had been her own.

"I've faced stronger biots than a barely-conscious quarian," he said, trying to lighten the mood. "You didn't break anything valuable."

Tali exhaled. "I was worried that I had hurt y-"

"You didn't."

"Or that you'd be mad at-"

"I'm not."

She sighed. "I just want to say that I'm sor-"

"I forgive you."

She buried her face in her hands._ I know he's trying to make me feel better, but this isn't helping_. She took a calming breath. "Can you please stop interrupting me?"

_One-Mississippi, two-Mississippi_, he counted after she had finished. "I'm all ears."

_Humans have the weirdest sayings_, she thought as a much less suggestive image came to mind. "Anyway..."

She gulped nervously. "I was afraid... After I was hit, I was in so much pain. It was like... my body was turning against me. And then it started using biotics..."

John wished that he could put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

She held herself tighter and shivered, looking down at her feet. "It scared me. _I_ scared me. I had all that power, and no idea how to control it..."

He nodded, his thoughts flashing through a series of memories: accidentally Lifting himself after sparring with Jacob... Tali backing away from him when he told her of his new abilities on Freedom's Progress...

_That mysterious energy..._

Truth be told, he hadn't tried using that power again. Something about it had just felt so _wrong_. Samara had strongly recommended against it, at least until she could see his biotic abilities firsthand.

He had no desire to go against her wishes.

Noticing Tali's silence, he felt it was okay to intervene. "It spooked me when I found out Cerberus made me a biotic too. All that time spent being... I guess you could say 'normal'. And then I had the rug ripped out from under me..."

She looked back up at the terminal, then silently cursed. _Damn this lack of video_, she thought, despite her unsuited state.

"I remember that day. I remember making my rounds like usual. I remember the explosion, and drifting away. I remember..." _...Thinking of you. How amazing you were._

_How I felt like I'd made the wrong choice._

He took a deep breath. _Now isn't the time for that._

"Telling Liara to go to the escape pod," he finished.

Tali cringed when she heard the name.

"Everything between then and a few weeks ago, it felt like nothing had happened. If someone had told me I'd been blackout drunk and gotten in a barfight, I would've believed them. Instead..."

Tali's mind filed in the rest. _...It was two years later, everyone thought you were gone, and only Cerberus had listened to you_. It brought a tear to her eye, trying to imagine his predicament.

"I had no idea it was that hard on you."

He gave a single humorless laugh. "Even if I hadn't been dead for two years, I still would've been traumatized by being turned into a biotic against my will. I'd say you handled it pretty well."

"John, you don't have to lie to me for my sake."

"I'm not," he laughed, a genuine one this time. "Miranda told me I nearly destroyed a lab when I started to wake up, and that was before they were even done... Fixing me, so to speak." His smirk returns to his face. "It's a good thing I found a friendly visor on Freedom's Progress, or I might have gone mad."

She found herself grinning. "I guess I'll have to try harder next time something gives me biotics. Maybe I could mess with Garrus's calibrations a little before it wears off."

"Not that I wouldn't want front row seats for that show, but I'd prefer not to have anyone on my crew poisoned again," John replied with a smile.

"True." Her hands shifted. "There is something else I wanted to say though." Tali noticed that she had fallen back into her tell, and willed her hands to sit still. "Provided I won't get interrupted again."

"Wouldn't dream of it."

"About what happened... in Liara's office, I mean... I wanted to apologize." Unable to resist her vice any longer, her hands began to rub together. "It was rude of me... and stupid... I mean, she deserved better. Even if I didn't like what she asked from you... She was part of the crew once... and on top of that, she's your... your..." She couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence, just as a part of her still refused to believe Garrus's words from earlier.

"Liara and and I aren't together anymore."

Tali's heart skipped a beat, then a second one. It almost forgot about the third one as well before working normally again. "What?"

"She and I aren't a couple anymore. Things... changed between us."

"I'm sorry to hear that." She knew it was a lie, albeit a necessary one. A part of her actually felt like singing, though she didn't dare attempt to do so without her sh'rayan and its convenient ability to mute her voice.

"If you don't mind me asking," she said, curious, "Why?"

_Because of you_, his mind immediately answered, but he held his tongue. The memory of her hurried exit when they had gotten close in the shuttle bay was still fresh in his mind. Doubt filled him, and his reasonable side latched on to it. _It wouldn't be right to put her on the spot like that._

Her sense of boldness was failing her as the silence dragged on. _Keelah, that was stupid. I shouldn't have put him on the spot like that. I should just apolo-"_

"We grew apart," he stated as he shut his eyes. "It wouldn't have been the same if we tried." It was as much of the truth as he dared to give her.

"Oh." It hadn't been an answer that she was expecting.

He remembered the last moments he had spent in the asari's office. _He watches the quarian storm out of the room, his eyes lingering a moment too long on her form as he clumsily tried to excuse himself. He stumbles over his words, his mind a confused mess as he tries to determine which had been more real: the disastrous kiss minutes before or the flustered quarian rushing away to the Normandy's elevator. The asari gives him a knowing look, despite the tear her eye refuses to shed. "Does she know?" He is unsure how to answer._

"You can say that again."

_He sounds so troubled_, she thought sadly. _I wish I could put him at ease_.

He sighs, his thoughts focused once again on their moment in the shuttle. _I wish I could hold her like that again_.

John gazed wistfully at the door to the AI core room. _If only I knew what had been troubling her_.

_If only I could trust myself around him_. In spite of the thought, she looked longingly toward privacy curtain shielding the door from her view.

His eyes settle on the interface, which glowed a defiant red. _I wish this damn door-_

_-wasn't between us_. Tali shook her head. "So what have you been up to lately, John?" She silently cursed; it had sounded much more professional in her mind.

He chuckled slightly. "Remember the mako?"

"How could I forget? You always made a point of finding the roughest path possible with that thing. I nearly got a concussion from when you crashed it on the Citadel."

"In my defense, the Conduit is to blame for the fact that we landed upside down. But that's besides the point. I found a replacement."

Her eyes narrowed. "If you think you're getting me into another one of those-"

"It's a gyroscopically-stable hovertank," he interrupted. "Physically impossible to flip, roll, or encounter turbulence due to rough terrain. Besides, nobody's better at repairing tech on the fly than you."

"So you admit your driving is dangerous," she jabbed, though she was flattered by his compliment.

"I plead the Fifth."

"What?"

"Sorry, old human reference. Anyway, the designers of the vehicle neglected to install shields."

Tali facepalmed in frustration. _What bosh'tet would overlook something like that in this day and age?_ "Fine, I'll go with you next time the mission needs this... What is it called?"

"Hammerhead."

"Yes, the Haaaammerhead," she yawned. She blushed as she covered her mouth. "Oh dear."

He couldn't help but grin at her slip-up. "You should get your rest, Tali. Captain's orders."

_Damn_. Though she was starting to enjoy the direction their talk was going, she had to admit he was right. "Will do, John. Talk to you later?"

"Of course."

Her hand moved toward the control to end the communication.

"And Tali."

She paused. "Yes, John?"

"You have a beautiful voice. It's nice to hear it without the mask for a change."

Her hand slammed down on the console, ending the connection before she could say anything else.

_Damn it,_ John thought as he made his way back to the mess hall.

* * *

Tali attached her mask, a light indicating that the pressure seals were once again in place and working properly. The visor's auto-shading immediately activated, darkening her vision to her saved settings. The suit's diagnostics started running, verifying that the various systems and programs within were running smoothly.

_Did it always make this much of a difference? _

She dismissed the thought as she opened the door, walking out into the well-lit med bay. Jacob and Mordin stood there waiting. "I hope the modifications are to your liking," the soldier stated.

As if triggered by his statement, the diagnostics finished. A bright white display suddenly materialized in front of her right eye. "Keelah!" she yelped, closing the eye. The hologram mirrored itself in response, fixing itself over her left eye instead. She slammed that one shut as well. "What the hell did you do Jacob?"

"I installed a targeting visor. They're standard a for all helmeted Cerberus personne-"

"I'm NOT a part of Cerberus, you bosh'tet!"

She heard Mordin's voice. "Expected as much. Mister Taylor had compelling argument however. More accuracy, adapts to weapons and user. Very useful tool."

"My primary weapon is a shotgun," she growled angrily as she opened her omni-tool. "I'll do fine without it thank you."

"Recommend against that. Required root access, command priority to install." The salarian inhaled deeply. "Troublesome to remove."

_For anyone else, maybe._ The quarian deftly navigated through the menus on her omni-tool, her eyes still closed.

"Where'd it go?"

The quarian opened her eyes at Jacob's statement. Sure enough, the offending interface had vanished, replaced by a small indicator in the corner of her mask.

"Safe-mode reboot?" the salarian queried. Tali nodded, her fingers becoming a blur as she worked to eliminate all traces of the program. "Astonishing..." he breathed. Jacob was staring wide-eyed as menus, readouts, and hacking interfaces whizzed by on her omni-tool, much too fast for him to decipher. Mordin had no such trouble. "Hidden runtimes within code. Trackers, audio recording suite, lie detector, facial scanner. Programs to track extranet usage, emotional pheromones, changes in body mass, control filtering systems, construct visual of surroundings using ultrasonic sonar. Underhanded, but brilliant ruse. STG work rarely included monitoring so thorough. Would make Shadow Broker jealous of information provided."

"I had no idea..." the slackjawed soldier said.

"Don't worry about it," Tali replied, her task complete. "It's not your fault Miranda doesn't trust me."

* * *

**Notes from the author:  
****Wait, you lost me during the Tali/Shep talk. Who said/thought what now?  
****I tried having all the Tali parts underlined through the whole section, but the site wasn't saving the formatting properly (whole paragraphs kept getting reverted to non-underlining at random when saved).  
****For example:** **"**'I plead the Fifth.' 'What?' 'Sorry, old human reference.'**"  
****"**_I wish __this damn __door __wasn't __between __us._**" was how I originally intended to have that particular stream of thoughts written, to show that they had the same thought at the same time.**

**When it came down to it, having to try and rewrite that part without underlining help (or bold font *shudder*) sounded better than having about 70% of Tali's parts underlined and the rest looking like a toss-up between the two.**

**Who the heck is Quala'Oro?**  
**Shame on you, you should know by now! OC used by permission from Levi Matthews' Finding a Way. Read it or [insert detestable fate here].**

* * *

Khelish-English cheat sheet:

nedas = "nowhere"  
(Credit to ME wiki)

hyel'tet = "unfixable thing"/useless one; an extreme insult when directed at other quarians; comparable to c**t in offensiveness

hesh'nealan = [direct ranslation redacted. Mwuhahaa!]; a term of endearment given to one's most trusted non-romantic friends and protectors  
(Credit to Herr Wozzeck and his _Mass Vexations_ series for this one. A great SI/AU saga that's worth a look or twelve.)

sh'rayan = [translation redacted 2: the unnecessary cash-in sequel]; the proper name for the quarian environment suit


	6. Taking Control

5: Taking Control

The Illusive Man turned away from the star as he puffed on his cigarette. He allowed the nicotine to calm his nerves before speaking; appearing anything less for this conversation would be disastrous for him. "Shepard, one of our cells just went completely off the grid."

"Why am I not surprised?" The hologram of the commander folded its arms.

He allowed the comment to slide. "Project Overlord has been experimenting with some highly volatile tech, and I need you to investigate what happened."

"And this helps stop the reapers how?"

"I'm sure a few of your squad would take offense to your tone, Shepard." He exhaled slowly as he stubbed the cigarette out in an ashtray. "Your quarian friend, in particular, would find the ability to control the geth to be an immeasurable strength in the coming conflict."

He resisted the urge to grin as the gravity of his words sunk in. Now that he had dropped this bombshell, he knew that the commander would consider it a top priority.

"How?"

"Overlord was the most successful of several different approaches we took to solving this issue following the attack on Eden Prime. Anything else I could tell you will immediately become obvious when you arrive."

_"When", not "if"._

"Send me the coordinates."

"Already done, Shepard." He closed the connection, turning toward a dark form within the shadows. "Leng. Send an encrypted message to Lawson. She needs to get on the ground team and recover all the data on Overlord that she can. It's been too long since Archer's last update."

Kai Leng stepped forward, making himself more visible. "And if the project has taken a turn for the worse?"

"It already has," he stated. His electric blue eyes focus on the assassin. "And I'd prefer that it stopped turning in its grave."

* * *

_Could it really be possible?_

Tali had sprinted toward the armory as soon as she'd gotten the mission brief from EDI. She was unsure what to think about Overlord; knowledge that the geth could be controlled gave her hope for being able to see Rannoch in her lifetime, but the idea of what Cerberus would do with a synthetic army gave her chills.

_We don't need another Idenna incident._

To her surprise, she wasn't the first one to reach the armory. A green and black alien raised his head as she entered.

"I see you are well, Tali'Zorah."

She tilted her head as she warily stepped in. "I'm sorry, I don't think we've met."

"Apologies. Having a perfect memory means that we drell will usually skip the pleasantries when reputations precede us." He laid down the sniper rifle he had been inspecting and crossed his hands behind his back. "Thane Krios, at your service," he stated with a slight bow. "A few of the team members hold you in high regard, the commander included."

Her shoulders drooped a little. "You'll forgive me if I don't feel as if I've earned it."

The drell blinked. "Lawson mentioned that you were impacted by the events on Haestrom."

"And what do you think?"

"That you worry too much about what happened in your battle-sleep. You were not at fault."

"My what?" The quarian gave him a confused look.

Thane turned back to his weapons as he elaborated. "Drell see the mind and body as separate entities. Typically, they work in tandem, united. However, there are things that can break this synchronization. In times of extreme stress, they become... disjointed. The body continues to act without the mind, driven by instinct while the mind turns inward and becomes a silent passenger. We refer to this as 'battle-sleep', as it often manifests in soldiers during combat."

"So you're saying I let it happen," she softly murmured.

"Hardly. A captain whose crew has mutinied against him cannot control his ship."

"You sound like you've had a lot of time to consider this."

The drell froze, his dark eyes glossing over. _"I sprint down the moonlit street. Stairs creak, but I ignore the sound. I reach the threshold. The door is broken. A slight breeze tugs tattered curtains. Irikah lies on the ground, her clothes fouled and torn. One sunset eye stares accusingly. The other is vacant, marred by a bullet wound. Kolyat cries in the corner, bound to his mother's favorite chair. 'Where were you, Dad?' Rage and sadness build, both in his voice and in my soul. My mind wishes it had words of comfort, for either of us. My body runs back out the door without another word."_ His eyes regained their focus, reabsorbing the surroundings. "My apologies, I did not mean to lapse into that memory."

The quarian stood there, flabbergasted. "Was that...?"

Thane nodded. "My successes earned me numerous enemies. Eventually, they banded together, killing my wife in front of my son. It... deeply disturbed my spirit. While Kolyat was watching her funeral, I was on Omega hunting down the all of those responsible, even peripherally. Gunmen, informants, allies..." He took a deep breath. "Friends... spouses... The 'One-Hour Massacre', they called it." His eyes close. "For many, it lasted much longer than the name implies."

"Keelah."

"I eventually regained control over myself and traveled straight back to Kahje. I arrived in time to see her laid to rest. Kolyat refused to speak to me. He considered my leaving unforgivable." He looked at her. "Shepard seems to think otherwise about you."

It was Tali's turn to be downcast. "I wish I shared your confidence."

"If you had seen him sprinting into the med bay, your opinion would undoubtedly be different."

"I nearly killed him, Thane."

"And you've saved his life multiple times since." He noted her questioning look. "Garrus, the turian, told everyone who would listen of your actions against the gunship, Elnora, and the Eclipse leader's biotic assault."

"It doesn't feel like I've done enough."

"Forgiveness is enough. All you can do is continue to earn it."

"Did you ever find yours?"

"The Shadow Broker has no permanent affiliations, and Aria did not mind the devastation I had dealt on Omega in my body's pursuit of vengeance. She considered it 'house-cleaning'. My religion has also absolved me from responsibility for what I did."

"And Kolyat?"

His silence answered the question for him as he gathered his weapons.

"Your new armor suits you," the drell commented on his way out. She could feel his eyes analyzing her suit and its new plating as she checked her own guns. "It shows strength and determination in the face of adversity, an inner courage with its form, as well as humility with how your species' traditional garb blends with it." He paused, as if reflecting on what he said. "You would make a good _siha_ for him."

"A what?"

He left without another word.

* * *

"I'm going to check for survivors in the east wing."

It had been a simple excuse, one birthed from the slightest of white lies, that gave Miranda the freedom to explore the rest of Hermes Station alone. Tali and Thane were busy taking care of the many corpses in the rest of the facility. Shepard, who was talking with Gavin Archer, the project lead, had been too busy to deny the request. Since the majority of the geth in this part of the installation had been focused around the communications dish (_which Shepard destroyed, in spectacular fashion_), she had met very little enemy resistance so far.

She rounded a corner, coming across a lone geth trooper. It glowed with a green light, a stark contrast to the blue-lit ones from Haestrom. Miranda held her hand out to the back of its head, frying its circuits with an overload as she continued her search. A door stood open to her right. She cautiously crept up to the frame and peeked inside.

_Jackpot._

She had reached the station's security and communications center. Several vidscreens around the walls gave visuals of the hallways from various cameras and drones. On the back wall was a door simply labeled "Armory".

_So this is where Archer was during the attack,_ she thought as she walked toward one of the interfaces. It reacted to her presence, displaying a prompt:

**User is unlisted. Please identify yourself.**

"Operative Miranda Lawson, Lazarus Cell, requesting administrator access to records for data recovery. Code Styx-Omega"

**Command confirmed. State authorization phrase delta.**

"The jack of hearts built a full house, to protect the spades and clubs from their folly."

**Authorization accepted.**

A trio of slots appeared, allowing her to attach an OSD to each. Various images flashed across the screen as terabytes of data were copied onto the drives, no two of which had the same data or encryption. It was a failsafe that the Illusive Man had devised; even if one of them was captured and decrypted, the whole picture would have been impossible to grasp without the other two.

"Play most recent log." The download would take a while, and she could tell from the cameras that this wing held no other hostiles. Gavin Archer's voice began to play from one of the monitors.

_"Archer's Log 167: The VI has adapted much faster than anticipated, evolving into a sort of virus. It has infected almost everything on this facility: mechs, geth, drones, stationary guns, even the bloody comms. I was lucky enough to be on the last shuttle that left Atlas Station before the turrets were infected._

_"We had hoped to contain the outbreak to Atlas, but it's been using our communications network against us. Vulcan had already fallen by the time I arrived at Hermes Station, and it appears that this station will fall soon as well. At least it's some consolation that our attempts to isolate Prometheus have worked in our favor. I believe they may have used our weapon of last resort there, which would have destroyed any chance at a VI takeover._

_"Even so, it is... hopeless._

_"Even if what few of us that are left here could retake Hermes, we'd still need to use the command overrides at Prometheus and Vulcan to get to Atlas and take the project offline._

_"If this is being reviewed by a recovery team, there are six data packets scattered among outposts between the bases. For there to be any chance at successfully restarting Overlord, that data must be found."_

Miranda retrieved one of the OSDs as the log terminated. _I'll have to look into that._ She started another log and began to pace as Archer's voice again rang out of the consoles.

_"Archer's Log 152.1-152.2: The Illusive Man called for a stop on the project, but I convinced him to hold off pending a demonstration. I couldn't allow him to pull the plug, not when the geth were responding so well to our volunteer._

_"Still, we're going to need to do something big to keep our funding going. He's no longer impressed by controlling only one or two of the synthetics."_

Miranda arched an eyebrow. _So it was a success? This is astounding, all things considered._ She removed another OSD. The rest of the log had an additional layer of security, though she decided to circumvent procedure by simply hacking it. It was soon playing as she calmly waited for the last OSD to finish downloading the data.

_"Archer's Log 152.3-152.6: I have made some modifications to the project, to insure Overlord's success. I managed to acquire a copy of the base code used to actualize EDI from the same source that Lazarus obtained their tech. While the source may have been a rogue AI, it was initially programmed as a VI._

_"I've... tweaked it to fit our purposes._

_"It is still a VI by all accounts, but it now has the adaptability of an AI. Precautions have been taken, of course, though I haven't been able to shackle it as effectively as I could if the team could assist me. That is irrelevant now, however. There is simply no time to find an alternative or to follow a proper procedure. Overlord's success hinges on this adaptive VI working with David's mind."_

The officer took a step back at the revelation. _That bastard! If I didn't need that data..._ She swallowed her emotions as she swiped the final OSD. Miranda set a final log playing as she entered the armory.

_"Archer's Log 117: One of the other cells got a hold of an experimental weapon from the Alliance and sent us specs on the gun. While I cannot deny its killing power, I have to question why Halsey and Mendez sent them here. Devices of this sort have only limited effectiveness as a last-resort when you're targeting synthetics from inside a geth cruiser._

_"I've sent my report to the Illusive Man along with a request for a high-yield electromagnetic device. The people in engineering have started drawing up plans for it, but the timetable we've been given for Overlord doesn't give us the luxury of building it ourselves. In the meantime, the recovered weapon's plans have been stored in the armory. I can only hope that we'll never need it."_

Miranda's mouth dropped as she found the mentioned blueprints. She quickly pulled up her omni-tool, opening a video call. "Commander, I've found something you'll want to see."

"What is it, Miran..." He trailed off, his eyes growing wider as she showed him the specs.

"That's a big gun."

* * *

_Why did I agree to this?_

Tali furiously worked the engineer's station within the Hammerhead tank, her fingers dancing on the console as she directed the repair protocols. "Integrity at sixty-three percent and climbing." Her mind flashed to the time Joker had chastised the commander after picking up the crew on Therum two years ago. _Volcanoes are such a pain._ "Can you please try not to fly us directly over the lava flows, John?"

"I'll work on it."

Before she could reply, the vehicle jumped underneath her. She struggled to stay upright as the G-forces attempted to slam her down into the console. Her stomach began churning in freefall as an alarm blared. She swore under her breath; her hand had bumped into a switch during the rushed ascent. "Can you give me a little more warning next time you jump like that, John?"

"It was that or eat a rocket." He was too absorbed in his actions to turn toward her; she could feel the craft swaying from side to side as he dodged more incoming fire.

She fought to keep her most recent tube of nutrient paste down as the maneuvers continued. It had been bad enough for her during the diversions to pick up data from out-of-the-way areas on the plains between the stations, but the active volcano around Vulcan had made the the trip into a form of hell for the quarian. Between Shepard's evasive actions and the random boosts of speed -both forward and upward- needed to cross the lava flows near Vulcan Station's geothermal plant, it was miraculous that she still held on to her lunch.

"We're here."

"Thank the ancestors," the exasperated quarian breathed as the squad began to exit the tank.

Miranda was glaring cheekily at her as Tali shakily stepped on to solid ground. "What's wrong, can't stand a bumpy ride?"

"Riding in the Mako was a bumpy ride. This... thing is far worse."

She arched an eyebrow. "We still have to make the return trip, you know."

The quarian's stomach squirmed uncomfortably as she tried to force the thought out of her mind. "Please shut up."

* * *

"That's enough, Miranda."

Shepard drew his SMG as he led the squad into Vulcan Station's main facility. He had been hoping that pairing Tali and the Cerberus officer on the squad would help with venting some of the tension between them.

So far, the attempt had been a total bust.

_At least I didn't bring Jack too._

Thane followed him in, his own SMG ready to fire in the confines of the plant's network of catwalks. The two of them waited for the women to enter; Miranda had hovered over the quarian until she drew her shotgun, but had stopped verbally abusing her on Shepard's orders.

He chanced a quick word: "Ready to go, Tali?"

She gave Miranda a sidelong glance that would've melted ice faster than the lava flows just outside the door. "I'm ready to kill _something_ if that's what you mean."

The operative acted as if she hadn't heard Tali's comment. "There's a lot of steam built up here. It'll be hell for visibility."

"It's a geothermal plant, Lawson. Of course there's steam. If there wasn't, that would mean something was terribly wrong." John tried to hide his grin; the engineer apparently couldn't resist a chance to take Miranda down a notch.

Thane intervened before the situation could spiral into an argument. "There may be a chance to use it to our advantage, but we should continue."

"How?"

"You will see."

True to his word, the drell impressed the commander, strategically shooting pieces of exposed machinery to vent the high-pressure steam on several attacking mechs that were hidden among the catwalks. He single-handedly turned an ambush into a massacre as the mechs were blown away by the hot air.

"Remind me not to get on your bad side, Thane," John commented as he surveyed the destruction.

"I would prefer I didn't have to, Shepard."

The four of them formed up on a doorway up ahead. Miranda peeked in, then jumped back as half a dozen shots slammed into the door frame. "We've got a YMIR."

Shepard drew his grenade launcher. "Tali, we'll need you to distract it with your drone so we can get in. Thane, cover us from here. I want you three to focus on everything else so I don't get shot before I can take out that YMIR."

The quarian's eyes widened as the others nodded an affirmative. "John, you're not going to-"

"Yes, Tali, I am." He knew that she was thinking of the time he took down one of the hulking mechs on Freedom's Progress.

"Wait for me to help weaken it at least."

He shot her a sly grin. "Will do, ma'am."

* * *

_He did not just call me that._

Tali sprinted into the room after calling her combat drone, her shotgun drawn. She fired a couple of quick shots at a green-lit LOKI mech as she slid into cover. Miranda followed, Throwing another one over a balcony and into a lava pit as a rocket streaked by her head.

_Guess they finished off Chiktikka._

She stepped around her cover, but had to dive back to avoid a maelstrom of enemy fire. _A rocket drone! That sure beats an overload._ She waited for a lull in the fire, then assaulted it with a hacking protocol. She grinned to herself as it fired at the YMIR, denting its armor. "John, there's your opening."

He fired his weapon, stumbling the massive mech as it slowly turned toward its hacked ally. Tali turned away from the sight, focusing on another LOKI. _Calm down. He'll be alright._ It wasn't long before the mech she targeted exploded, a victim of a grenade. She looked back toward where the YMIR had been, seeing nothing but an empty expanse of floor space and a Spectre wielding a grenade launcher. _Where did it go?_

Thane finished off the last LOKI with a headshot, allowing the squad to regroup. They ascended a staircase, finding a lone mech. It was shooting and kicking the machine in front of it, a vain attempt to destroy the security override for Atlas station. They removed the threat with a series of well-placed shots, literally disarming the LOKI.

_It's almost funny, the way it's running around._ Tali put it down with a single headshot, then turned toward Shepard, curious. "What happened to that YMIR, by the way?"

"It tripped and had an unfortunate smelting accident."

She shook her head in annoyance. "I swear, you Charge into the most dangerous situations."

"All part of the job, ma'am," he replied with that grin. "But I don't do it without thinking first."

"Right... and John."

He paused in front of the override console. "Yes?"

"You're not Kal. Next time you call me 'ma'am', I'm setting Chiktikka on you."

"Point taken," he laughed.

* * *

**Bang**

Miranda whirled around. "Could you please stop doing that?" she half-asked, half-demanded.

She glared at Tali as the offending quarian stepped away from a collapsed geth trooper, a fresh hole in the center of its optics. "I'd rather not, Miranda."

"They're all deactivated, for goodness' sake. There's no danger here."

"I'm sure the staff here believed that as well."

"I don't see any bodies, do you?"

"Enough chatter," Shepard's voice barked.

The quarian had been following the squad at a snail's pace, jumping at the slightest of sounds and double-tapping any deactivated geth platforms they came across. "Cautious," Thane had called it.

_"Excessive" is more like it._ Still, the commander had seemed to share some of the quarian's caution, having the squad form up at every corner and doorway in case of hostiles. They never ran into any, however. _This geth ship is completely dead._

It wasn't a claim she made lightly; Prometheus Station was kept on a separate network from the rest of the base for security reasons. Even if they lost control of the station, the facility had been equipped with an emergency electromagnetic pulse generator. The fact that the geth turret outside had been inactive when they arrived was a testament to what she considered an essential truth: that the EMP had been detonated and there was no way for the VI to take and hold Prometheus.

"Tali, can you take a look at this?"

Miranda watched as the quarian walked over to the commander. Before them stretched a wide expanse of water. "What is it, John?"

"There are several platforms out there. I'm thinking this console can control them and make a bridge across."

Thane spoke up. "I would prefer not to swim."

"Good luck with that," Miranda stated. "You can't hack a console with no power."

Tali shot her a quizzical look. "What do you mean? The terminal's active."

"What?"

Instead of replying, the engineer activated several controls in sequence on the console. Sure enough, the platforms slid into place, forming a walkway.

_How?_

The thought stuck with her as the foursome approached Prometheus Station's override console. _Why would it be active? Archer wouldn't have allowed an EMP that wasn't strong enough. The men here can't have been that incompetent; all the doors were still open for goodness' sake. They must still be alive._

Tali stopped in front of her, turning around. The engineer's eyes flared, her gaze focused on Miranda.

_Great. What's her issue this time?_

The quarian moved with an unnerving slowness, her hand moving toward her leg. Miranda's eyes were drawn to the blade on her left thigh as it was drawn out of its sheath. "Zorah, what are you-"

Tali gave the slightest shake of her head as she crept toward her. The knife gleamed as the engineer took a step forward.

"Miranda. Don't move."

* * *

_Miranda's sure acting odd._

Tali wondered about the officer's behavior as she crossed the platforms to the security override. Her curiosity was even beginning to overwhelm the dread that had settled in her stomach the moment she stepped in the geth ship. _I mean it's not like she had any reason to believe-_

_The data packets!_

It made sense; if the data packets said that the power would be down, then Miranda would've believed them without question. That left one question however. _Why would the ship be empty if the power's still on? Unless-_

She stopped in her tracks as Shepard activated the security override. The engineer cautiously turned around, her eyes settling on Miranda. The air seemed to shimmer behind her as the biotic followed her and Thane.

It wasn't a biotic aura.

Tali slowly began to draw her mother's blade, hoping the hidden geth wouldn't notice her movements.

Miranda was not so blind, her eyes tracking Tali's every move. The operative was oblivious to the threat right behind her. "Zorah, what are you-"

"Miranda. Don't move."

The woman did the exact opposite, reaching for her pistol. A light began to glow from behind her as her arm moved.

_Damn it._

The quarian lunged forward, swinging the knife in a wide arc. It passed within centimeters of Miranda's face on its path into the top of the hazy form. She felt her arm encounter resistance and kicked out at the blue-green light that was shining from behind the officer's back. A trio of plasma blasts impacted harmlessly on the ground as a weapon materialized.

Tali felt her head being jerked to the side as the sound of a gunshot echoed through the room.

* * *

Miranda saw the quarian leap at her, knife drawn and purpose gleaming in her bright eyes. _Good God!_ Her training kicked in, reflexes honed from a time long since forgotten springing into action. She shifted her head to the side as her hand finished drawing the carnifex pistol from her hip. She slid around to the quarian's other side as she heard the unmistakable sound of a round being fired into the ground.

She tensed up, pulling the trigger.

Tali's head snapped to the side as her shields flared up around her. The momentum caused her to fall over as a second figure appeared next to her. Miranda looked on in shock as a geth followed the quarian to the ground, the engineer's knife embedded in its head.

"Oh my God..." she murmured.

The commander breathed a single word from behind her. "Tali?"

The quarian stirred, bringing a hand to the side of her head. She shot an accusatory glare at Miranda as Thane helped her to her feet. The officer also noted the look that Shepard was giving her as she lowered her pistol.

_Did I just-_

Miranda's thought was interrupted by her being Lifted by her throat. Her pistol clattered on the ground as she turned towards Shepard. Miranda struggled to speak.

"Commander, please..."

There was no mercy in his eyes as he continued to hold her in place. Miranda began to squirm as the quarian reentered her line of sight. She barely managed to cough a few words out as she pleaded her case.

"I didn't know, Tali."

The quarian remained silent as the hold on Miranda's throat tightened. Tali turned away, retrieving her knife from the fallen geth. Miranda wriggled as her windpipe was completely cut off. The woman turned to Thane in desperation, only able to mouth three words to the drell.

"My body reacted..."

Something sparked in the assassin's eyes as he put a hand to Tali's shoulder. A silent interaction passed between the two as the woman grasped fruitlessly at the dark energy binding her neck. Suddenly, the quarian's demeanor changed completely. Miranda gagged as she saw Tali shifting her gaze back and forth between her knife and the drell. Just as her vision began to darken, the quarian stepped toward Shepard.

"John, stop."

Miranda felt herself crash to the ground. She clutched at her throat, coughing heavily as air once again flowed into her lungs. The unmistakable whir of geth chatter began to fill the room around them as more troopers came online. The woman shakily returned to her feet, giving the drell a look of gratitude.

The rest of the squad reformed around Shepard, preparing to fight their way out. They worked their way back to the entrance, with Miranda using her biotic and tech abilities from the back of the group. The woman didn't dare to draw her gun again while they were still in the geth ship.

She couldn't help but notice how most of the synthetic units they passed were already disabled.

* * *

The trip to Atlas Station was a mercifully silent one. John had no wish to speak with Miranda, and he could tell that Tali was having similar thoughts. _How could I have been so stupid? I should never have brought Miranda along._ The Cerberus officer, for her part, sat quietly as the Hammerhead descended toward a landing pad.

_"Looks like you're in, commander,"_ Archer's voice chimed in over the radio. _"I'm getting some troubling readings here though. The VI is trying to upload its program directly from your location."_

Thane broke the silence before Tali or Miranda had to. "I hate to imagine what it's trying to infect now."

Shepard ignored the chatter as he led them into the facility on foot. The status light on the door in front of him glowed red as he walked forward. Without warning, it switched to green and opened.

"Must be Archer helping us along," Tali quipped. "I wonder how he got into the system remotely though."

He grunted an acknowledgement as they entered a hallway. A door stood open off to the right, while another one appeared to be locked. _Thanks Archer,_ he thought as he approached the portal.

The door slammed shut in his face, its interface flashing a fiery red. An inhuman noise echoed down the hall, a mixture of geth clicking and a low hum.

"What the hell was that?"

Nobody had an answer for the commander as the other door suddenly unlocked. Miranda broke her silence. "I don't think this is Archer's doing."

Shepard acted as if he hadn't heard her, leading the squad into a small lobby. An elevator stood across the hall, a nearby sign announcing that they were on level seven. He casually pressed the call button, and a feminine voice flowed from a speaker on the console.

**"Arriving at level two."**

The rest of the squad stowed their weapons as they waited for the elevator. An uneasy silence followed as Miranda avoided looking any of the others in the eye. Shepard began to tap his foot. _What's taking so long?_ He decided to try the call button again.

**"Arriving at level four."**

_We can't wait for whatever's using this elevator._ He hit the button once more.

**"Arriving at level six."**

He pressed it again.

**"Elevator reset."**

"What?" he yelped in dismay as the indicator went from six to zero. He jammed his finger into the interface repeatedly.

**"Arriving at level two. Arriving at level fo- Arriving at level si- Elevator re- Arriving at level two."**

"Maybe this can help?"

Shepard's biotics flared as he angrily turned toward Miranda. She twitched at the sight as she cautiously pointed toward the computer console behind her. "Who asked you ab-"

"It's as good a hypothesis as any."

He cut off his rant at the sound of Thane's voice, giving a small nod toward Miranda. She activated the console.

**"Arriving at level three."**

John turned toward the elevator's call button again.

**"Arriving at level five."**

He pressed the switch once more.

**"Arriving at level seven."**

"It's about time this thing w-"

"Get down!"

He looked up in time to see Miranda dive toward Tali as a torrent of flame sprang from the elevator door. The ambient heat scorched his skin as he spun away from the call button.

"They have a prime!"

Thane ran past him as he drew his shotgun. Shepard saw him striking at the flamethrower-wielding geth destroyer with his biotics as he took aim at the towering geth prime in the back of the elevator. The glowing synthetic opened fire, its machine gun tearing into his barriers before he returned to cover. "Tali, are you alright?"

"A little singed, but no breaches." He could hear the sound of another shotgun firing. "Go for the optics, Chiktikka!"

He peeked out again as the combat drone flew by. It drew the prime's attention as he poured round after round into the behemoth trooper. He saw the blue glow of biotics from the corner of his eye as the geth Thane had been fighting was Thrown back into the elevator.

"Shepard, the fuel tank!"

John shifted his aim, firing a round into the flamethrower's fuel canister. A wave of heat and pressure blasted him off his feet.

_Breathe in._

_Breathe out._

_Ears ringing? Check._

_Pain? Check._

_Yup, I'm alive._

He slowly rose to his feet, grunting from the effort. A cooling sensation spread along his left side as medigel was applied by his armor. He looked down.

_That's new._

Much of the armor on his left side had been blackened by the explosion, adding another scar to the metal and ceramic plating. Thankfully, none of the plates had buckled from the blast.

_Might as well keep it like that._

"Tali, how're you holding up?" He looked over toward the quarian as he asked the question.

Some of her suit was covered with soot, but her armor and the detail lines on her headscarf still shone brightly. "I'm fine, Miranda took most of it."

He shifted his gaze toward the operative, whose bodysuit had also been blackened by the attack. Parts of it had been burned off completely, exposing reddened skin underneath. She looked him in the eye. "I'll be alright, commander."

John looked away as he tossed her one of his emergency medigel kits. "Get yourself patched up. You look like you need it."

* * *

"John!"

Tali pounded fruitlessly on the door with her fists, calling his name.

"He can't hear you, Tali."

She didn't know what to think of Miranda's statement. Between a part of her being royally pissed that the woman had shot at her and the part that wanted to thank Miranda, the quarian wasn't sure of how she felt about the operative. A thousand alarm bells went off in her head as she felt a pressure on her shoulder. There was one thing she was sure of.

"Don't touch me."

The woman recoiled from the force in her words, leaving Tali alone with her thoughts. _Could she be right? If only I had gotten a better look at-_ An epiphany hit as she turned toward Thane. "Did you see anything odd about the commander after he was shocked?"

The drell's eyes turned vacant. _"A burst of energy. The man seizes and stumbles outside. Green light behind his eyes and within the scar on his face. The door closes. She yells as it locks, the system glitching and applying multiple door switches. None react to her touch. She screams again."_ He returned from the memory, his eyes deep in thought. "It is possible that the VI has found a way to corrupt his cybernetic implants."

She nodded. "Which means he may need our help." A pause, then, "I'm going to have to hack the doors."

"Are you insane?" Miranda piped up. "All of your people have cybernetics."

Tali gave an exasperated sigh. "Those are to interface with our suits, Lawson. Or did you think we'd be happy only knowing what hot, cold, and _pain_ felt like?"

"What if it takes over your suit? Can we risk you attacking us?"

"It's an environment suit, not a weaponized exoskeleton!" Her hand covered her visor in frustration. _Why doesn't she understand?_ She checked her anger and allowed her hand to drop. "We quarians have been fighting AI for 300 years. We know better than to leave a backdoor in our programming that can be exploited like that." She opened her omni-tool. "You will be fine."

"And what about you?"

The concern in her voice surprised Tali. She froze as she contemplated the question. _True, all of my suit's life support systems are protected from cyber-attacks, but some programs aren't. NotePal 3.8, a few omni-tool games, reference materials... Nerve-Stim Pro._

Her eyes widened at the thought. The woman quickly uninstalled the program, fearing what would happen if it was taken over almost as much as death itself. She suppressed a shudder as she reopened the hacking protocol. "_We_ will be fine," she corrected, half to herself.

Miranda fell silent as the minutes began to tick by. Tali was grateful for the quiet; the VI was putting up a good fight. It often put up additional firewalls and counterintrusion protocols to hinder her, but she steadily continued through them. _It's scrambled the coding for door labels!_ she realized. _No wonder the doors were acting odd._ She pondered this information before changing her tactics. "It's relabeled all the doors in the system, so I'll have to open all of them."

Thane was not surprised. "Explains the elevator issues."

"I understand if you can't-"

"I can do this, Miranda," the quarian interrupted. With a quick selection on her omni-tool, she sent several hundred probes into the system. The simple programs automatically hacked through any firewalls they came across, but were defenseless against counterintrusion measures. _That should keep it distracted._ Tali redoubled her efforts, her progress hindered much less as the VI tried to cope with multiple intrusion points. "I'm in. Just have to isolate the system from the virus now." She quickly set up several firewalls of her own before triggering the door activation command. The portal opened, along with all others on Atlas Station. "We should go now. I don't know how long it will take before the VI regains control."

"Which way?"

The sound of distant gunfire echoed down the halls. The three of them raced toward it, their sidearms drawn. Several decimated geth littered the rooms, their forms riddled with bullet holes. The shooting grew louder as they sprinted along. _If we get there too late-_

They nearly ran headlong into a group of geth clustered in a small room. Tali and Miranda quickly unleashed Overload programs on the synthetics, causing them to explode violently from the sudden surge of electrical energy.

Noticing that there was an elevator under where the group had been standing, Tali ran toward its control console. Before she could hack into the controls, a green digitized face stamped itself across the interface. A roar of unintelligible tones cascaded from the console, interspersed with a burst of what sounded like a voice.

**"Grrrrrai-mrrreze! Mrrai't-stop!"**

Thane blinked in surprise behind her. "It definitely said 'stop' that time."

"Piece of _hyelon_!" Tali swore, punching the console in frustration. "It disconnected all power from the interface. I can't hack it."

"I can see the commander!"

Tali rushed to the window where Miranda was standing. Sure enough, Shepard was there fighting a large squad of geth. A large machine stood in the center of the room, a sphere of cloudy light protected by the unmistakable shimmer of a powerful kinetic barrier. The engineer could barely make out an outline, something silhouetted within the smoky ball. She drew her shotgun, preparing to shoot out the window.

"That won't work."

The three of them rounded on the intruder, guns drawn. They slowly lowered as recognition dawned behind Tali's visor. "Doctor Archer, what are you doing here?"

The man pocketed his own pistol as he stepped in. "I've been monitoring your progress from Hermes. Once the lockdown was lifted, I came here as fast as I could. The virus did something with the doors though, none of them were working properly at first-"

"I took care of that."

"So that's why they all opened at once." Gavin brought a hand to his chin. "I wonder, if we'd had a quarian on the research team all along-"

**"QUIET! PLEASE MAKE IT STOP!"**

The ball of light erupted with a crash, shrouding the room in a haze and fogging the window.

"John!"

Archer dashed over to the elevator console. "We've got power again. I'm lowering us now."

The window slid out of their view as they descended. The same line repeated itself over the speakers, filling Tali with unease. The smoke began to clear as they reached the room below.

**"Quiet... Please make it stop."**

_Keelah..._

The elevator ground to a halt, Gavin already sprinting toward Shepard. "Wait! I'm begging you, don't do anything rash."

Tali was dimly aware of John's words as she stared at the abomination before her. "Rash? Like forcing your own brother into an experiment?"

She stepped forward, her eyes transfixed by what lie in the center of the room. Shards of broken glass littered the floor, but she paid them no mind as she gazed through the smoke.

**"Quiet. Please make it stop."**

Multiple machines and apparati converged in the center of the room, where the glass sphere had been. A man hung there, strung up in the nude by several electrical cables. Tali grimaced in horror at the sight; the massive cords shoved in his mouth, the wires forced through his skin, the way his flesh looked discolored from his body rejecting the implanted electronics...

But the eyes.

His eyelids were fixed open by several rods. An endless stream of tears ran down his face, some natural, some dropped in from tubes just above his face. The eyes showed nothing but terror as they swiveled endlessly, as if he was surrounded by numerous invisible phantoms.

**"Quiet, please... Make it stop."**

She was momentarily distracted as Miranda socked Gavin. "The Illusive Man never gave you license to do this."

He looked up at her despondently. "Didn't he? Any war we fight with the geth will be bloody. I was asked to find a way to avoid that."

_Not like this..._

John cut in. "Who gave you the right to play God, Archer?"

"It was the people who were to afraid to make difficult decisions themselves. When they pray for a miracle, they're really praying for men like me to make the tough choices."

_Keelah, not like this._ A single tear made its way down her face as she screwed her eyes shut.

The men continued to argue as she looked once more at the sad sight before her. David's body reminded her of the first time she fought against husks with John; how their mouths and eyes were contorted into a look of horror as they charged at her. Like brainwashed slaves.

_Except he's not indoctrinated._

**"Quiet. Please make it stop."**

John was yelling at Gavin now. "I've seen enough of your cruelty to know he'll never be free from it here. I'm taking him away."

The scientist drew a gun. "No! He's too valuable." Before he could fire a shot, Thane had disarmed him with a quick twist of his wrist. The drell shifted his hold on the man's arm, forcing him to his knees as Shepard introduced him to the business end of his own gun.

"You even think about coming after your brother, and this bullet will be waiting for you. Then we'll see who's valuable." He signaled to Miranda, who began to pull the scientist away from David. Gavin looked around at the squad members, but found no mercy in any of their looks.

"Where will you take him?"

"Grissom Academy. They can help special cases like David, minus the torture." He held up a hand to his ear as he conversed with Joker.

Miranda gave the quarian a respectable berth as she dragged the despondent scientist back toward the elevator. "But Cerberus still needs this. Overlord, the geth- we can find a solution."

"The Illusive Man can fire me if he doesn't like it."

**"Square root of 912.04 equals 30.2... It all seemed harmless..."**

Tali's hands balled into fists as the phrase repeated itself over the speakers. Her head hung low while she approached the poor man's restraints, prepared to do what she had to to free him.

_Is the homeworld really worth reducing us to this?_

* * *

Miranda escorted Gavin back to the elevator as the rest of the squad approached his brother. The lift took them back to the overlook where they had met up, away from the ears of the squad.

"Are you going to continue reprimanding me?"

She resisted the urge to hit Archer again as she turned. _To do that to your own flesh and blood..._ His actions reminded her all too much of her father. "I'm only talking to you because the Illusive Man wants to find everything on Overlord."

"Understood. Did you find the data packets?"

Her eyes narrowed as she nodded. "No thanks to your overstepping the bounds of the project. Using your own brother was one thing, but replacing the VI with an AI-based one without informing the rest of the staff? That was borderline suicidal, Archer! Your gambit nearly unleashed a viral plague on the galaxy."

"Ah, I neglected to mention that detail to Shepard. I take it you found the records in Hermes."

"Yes. Is there anything else?"

He drew an OSD from his pocket and opened his omni-tool. He transferred something over, nodding when it was done. "My personal notes." Archer flinched as Miranda swiped it from his hand. He looked out the window at the trio releasing David from the machine, his gaze settling on Tali. "He gave us only a year, when the quarians have been trying to solve this problem for centuries. I admit I let the pressure get to me. If not for David, we would've had nothing to show for it." The man turned back toward her. "Have you ever had to worry about one of his deadlines?"

Miranda's voice was ice-cold. "I get results so I won't have to worry."

"And what if Lazarus had failed?"

She was surprised by the question. "He gave us everything he thought we'd need. There was no way we could fail."

"That's exactly my- Gah!"

A blade sprouted from the man's chest. His arterial spray nearly landed on Miranda as she leaped back in surprise. The sword retracted and flashed through the air, allowing the body to slump forward. Archer's head still bore a look of shock and agony as it rolled across the floor.

"He's spoken long enough." Kai Leng materialized behind him as his cloaking device deactivated.

Miranda shook away her shock and tried to avoid looking at Gavin's remains. "Were the theatrics really necessary?"

"You needed to know the price of failure. The Illusive Man still trusts you, but I felt you needed a... reminder." His eyes narrowed slightly as he held out his disarmed hand. "But it's as you said."

"I get results," she echoed as she handed him the OSDs, including the ones with the data packets. "I'm not handing over David though."

Leng's eyebrows moved closer by a fraction of a millimeter as he spoke. His next word bore more than a spoonful of venom: "Why?"

"It's Shepard's decision, and the Illusive Man gave me orders to follow him until the collectors are dealt with."

"Very well. But in the meantime-" The blade flashed through the air again, too quick for Miranda's eyes to track. He dangled a single dark strand of hair from his free hand. "You would do well to remember where your true loyalties lie."

* * *

The Illusive Man paid no mind as Shepard terminated the link. The commander had been less than amused by the events on Aite. _Losing Archer's brother to the Ascension program may have been a blow against us,_ he thought as he stared at the star outside his window. _But we will recover._

"Sir?"

His thoughts were broken as a second QEC link opened in the room. "Leng, I trust your mission was a success."

"Gavin Archer has been eliminated, as per your orders."

"Good." The doctor had proven himself a liability over the past several weeks. "Using an AI's code to help interface with the geth was unacceptable. The goal was always to have an organic controlling them, not an organic-synthetic hybrid." He poured himself a drink. "The last thing we need is another Saren. His oversight merely proves how far he had fallen." He stopped to take a sip of his whiskey. "Still, it was a solid proof of concept. And what works against the geth..."

"May work against the reapers as well," the assassin finished.

"Precisely." He slipped into thought for a moment. "We will need more assistance if we're going to weaponize this for use against the geth, let alone the reapers."

"May I suggest Henry Lawson? His previous contributions-"

"Are out of the question," he interrupted, rising to his feet. "I have no desire to alienate my best operative on a hunch, Leng. Not while there's still time to pursue other leads."

"Apologies, sir."

The Illusive Man sat back down in his chair, taking the time to down another sip of scotch. "Luckily, I know of another who can help us. Overlord will rise again."

* * *

**Note from the author:  
Here's your Khelish word of the day!  
hyelon = "rubbish", considered an expletive on-par with "shit"**

**P.S. And to those who've reviewed so far, I wish you tanks.  
****Many tanks.  
****Awesome tanks.  
****Ones that fire e****xploding,  
****Laser-guided,  
****Deep-fried,  
****Holy hand grenades of Antioch.  
****Yeah...  
****Something like that.  
****Just not hammerhead tanks.  
****They suck  
****So,  
****So,  
****SO ****Much.  
****(Don't believe Cortez.)**

**P.P.S. Yes, deep-frying DOES make it better.**


	7. So You Have a Super Weapon

6: So You Have a Super Weapon

"Tali, how're you doing?"

The quarian didn't flinch as a human decloaked next to her on the bed. "Oh, hi Kasumi. You look well."

_Nice try._ "What's bothering you, hon?"

The engineer turned toward her. "Am I that obvious?"

"Look at your hands."

Tali folded her arms to stop herself from wringing her hands. "Sooner or later I've got to stop doing that," she muttered.

"And in the meantime, you should tell me what's irking you. That or I could stalk you until I find out." Kasumi chuckled as the quarian shot her a glare. "Well it would be more fun for me at least."

She shook her head. "You already do that, Kasumi."

"Not true," the thief replied, a pouting look on her face.

"How many push-ups did Jacob do today?"

"Ha-ha, Tali." Her sarcastic reply earned a laugh from the quarian. "So are you going to answer the question? You're not even this evasive when I ask you about Shep."

Tali bowed her head, trying to ignore the feeling she got from hearing Shepard's name. "It's about that last mission. The way we found David... I'm just worried about what it means for us retaking the homeworld."

Kasumi nodded, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Just because Archer was that twisted doesn't mean your people would go to that extreme."

"I'm not so sure about that." Her statement lingered in the air as the human considered it.

"You know, you still haven't told me that story from your mother's knife. Maybe that'll cheer you up."

The quarian sat a little straighter, her voice becoming more cheerful. "Sure. That would-"

**"Miss Goto and Miss Zorah, the commander has requested you in the armory. He will brief you on your next mission there."**

_Darn it, EDI! I was so close._ Kasumi snapped her fingers in frustration. "I guess we'll have to take another rain check."

"A what?"

"Don't want to keep Shep waiting now, do you?"

* * *

_He's bringing the entire squad? This must be something big._

Tali squeezed her way through the throng of bodies in the armory, with Kasumi right behind her. Shepard looked over to them from the far end of the room, visible only because he was standing on a crate. The commander cleared his throat loudly.

"Sorry for the squeeze, everyone, but we just got an important tip from the Illusive Man," he yelled, trying to make himself heard over the many voices in the room. Several heads turned his way, though Tali could tell that more than half were still busy checking their weapons. "We're going after the collectors."

That silenced everyone.

"Do not have method for safe traversal of Omega Relay. Much of squad distracted by other matters. Assault of collector homeworld inadvisable."

"True," he replied, nodding his head toward Mordin. "But we've caught a break. Cerberus intercepted a distress call from a turian patrol two hours ago. They managed to disable a collector cruiser by boarding it, but their ships were decimated during the fight. We're going in to find any survivors and gather intel."

"Sounds fishy to me," Jack called from one corner of the room. "How do we know this isn't Cerberus trying to screw us over?"

"They're in it to stop the collectors as much as we are, Jack. But that doesn't mean we're being careless about it. You, Thane, Miranda, and Zaeed are staying at the LZ to guard the shuttle."

Her retort was much louder. "If you think I'm following that fucking cheerleader-"

He held up a hand. "You won't have to. I'm putting Zaeed in command of gold team."

"What?" Miranda yelled in surprise.

"Need I remind you of what happened on Aite?"

The human woman clamped her mouth shut.

_I knew he didn't like Miranda shooting at me, but I wasn't aware he was that angry about it._

"Nice to see the bitch knocked off her-"

"Enough," Shepard said, cutting off Jack's words. "We have no intel on how much, if any, resistance we'll be facing, so I want to bring as many heavy weapons as possible. Grunt, Zaeed: grab grenade launchers. Garrus, get a missile launcher. Jacob, you're on flamethrower duty. Thane, bring the particle beam rifle instead of your sniper."

A chorus of acknowledgments went around the room as most of the squad started turned back toward their weapons. Tali, however, noticed something odd about his order.

"What are you going to carry, John?"

Jacob stood turned away from the flamethrower he was strapping on. "She's got a point, commander. That's our entire stock of heavy weapons, unless you got something new."

A grin spread across Shepard's face as he stepped down from the crate. "Just got it today. I will be carrying the B.F.G." He tossed aside the lid and reached inside the box.

The armory officer folded his arms. "What's a be-eff-geeeeesus..."

John lifted a comically-large weapon out of the crate. The gun's yellow and gray finish caught the eyes of everyone in the room as their collective jaws inched ever closer to the floor. A quartet of flanges around the weapon's barrel spun eagerly as the weapon armed itself.

_How is he carrying that thing one-handed?_

Tali's thoughts were interrupted by a chuckle from the Spectre. He made a sly grin as he looked at the room around him.

"This, ladies and gentlemen, is the M-920 Cain."

* * *

Miranda would never have admitted it, but she was entranced by the sight before her. Outside, the behemoth that was the collector cruiser quietly drifted through the greenish haze of the nearby nebula. The mix of tech and what looked like fungal growths that coated its outer hull sickened her, but she couldn't tear her eyes away from the view. Every now and then, extra lights would wink in and out of sight, a product of the massive debris field that Glass was steering their shuttle through.

_They sure did a number on those turian ships._

"ETA thirty seconds. Everyone get ready."

She double-checked the seal on her face mask before drawing her tempest SMG.

"Three, two, one... Gold team, move out!"

She jumped out of the cramped shuttle with Thane as Zaeed and Jack did the same on the other side. The officer swept her weapon around as she checked for any enemies.

"No hostiles, commander."

"No contacts."

"All clear."

"This place is fucking empty. Gross as hell though."

Miranda quietly agreed with Jack; the walls and floor appeared to be covered in orange and brown growths. Up ahead, she could see large sacs stuck to a ceiling, their luminous surfaces crisscrossed with dark lines. Scattered around the room, patches of metal were visible through the unknown substance. "It looks like an insect hive."

She could see Shepard stepping out as she lowered her weapon. "Red team, let's get this done so we can leave." The rest of the squad followed him toward an open door at the far end of the room as Zaeed beckoned gold team over.

"Alright, I want you ladies to watch the doors for hostiles. Me and Krios will cover ya at range from here."

The officer exchanged a surprised look with Jack before retorting. "I'd rather pair up with Tha-"

He cut her off with a raised hand. "Did you bring a long-ranged weapon?"

She could almost feel the smirk blooming on Jack's face as she shook her head, a scowl spreading across her own. The convict let out a low chuckle.

"Relax, cheerleader. I promised the commander that I wouldn't kill you... yet."

* * *

"Penetrating scans have detected an access node to uplink with collector data banks. Shepard, I have compared the ship's EM signature to known collector profiles. It is the vessel you encountered on Horizon."

_"Maybe the defense towers softened it for the turians."_

In the pilot's seat of the Normandy, Joker shook his head as the commander closed the link. "I still can't believe they disabled that thing. What do you think those turians used?"

EDI's avatar glowed next to him. "Whatever they used completely deactivated the vessel's drive core. Without additional data, I can only offer speculation."

"Let's just hope it didn't melt their faces. I doubt the Illusive Man would like to find out that Shepard was killed by the Ark of the Covenant."

"I fail to see how biblical references are relevant."

"Not what I meant, EDI," he replied with a roll of his eyes.

The comm buzzed to life again. _"EDI, I'm uploading the data from this terminal. See if you can figure out what they were up to."_

The AI responded to the call as Joker brought the Normandy in closer to the disabled ship. "Data received. Analyzing. The collectors were running baseline genetic comparisons between their species and humanity."

_"Are they looking for similarities?"_

"I have no hypothesis on their motivations. All I have are the preliminary results. They reveal something remarkable: a quad-strand genetic structure, identical to traces collected from ancient ruins. Only one race is known to have this structure: the protheans."

The pilot tore his view away from the cruiser. "The what?"

_"My god. The protheans didn't vanish. They're just working for the reapers now."_

_Yet another reason for me to hope Shepard's middle name is Connor._

"These are no longer protheans, Shepard. Their genes show distinct signs of extensive genetic rewrite. The reapers have repurposed them to suit their needs."

A long pause followed EDI's statement before the commander responded. _"Understood, EDI."_

As the comm fell silent again, Joker returned to looking at the gargantuan vessel next to them. He cautiously pulled the Normandy toward the ship's bow. _Something seems familiar about that shape._ "EDI, you wouldn't happen to have access to the original Normandy's logs, would you?"

"Yes, Cerberus recovered a copy of the SR-1's blackbox data."

"Run this ship against the one that killed the original Normandy. I just hope it isn't-"

"It is the same ship."

"Damn it," he swore as he opened up the comm line again. "Commander, you gotta hear this. On a hunch, I asked EDI to run an analysis on this ship."

"I compared the EM profile against data recorded by the original Normandy two years ago. They are an exact match."

_"The same ship dogging me for two years? Way beyond coincidence."_

_You're telling me? My Ackbar senses are off the damn charts right now._ "Something doesn't add up, Commander. Watch your back."

The line went silent again, leaving the pilot alone with his thoughts. "EDI," he wondered aloud, "Do you think the turians are still alive in there?"

The avatar's answer was as blunt as it was instantaneous. "I believed their chances of survival to be below five point four percent before we arrived."

"And now?"

"One point two percent, rounded up."

_So much for feminine charm._ "Remind me to help you work on your people skills."

"Request logged. However, I have not had any issues interfacing with the rest of the crew-"

"Not what I meant, EDI." _Deja vu much?_

The communications line opened up again. _"EDI, I'm setting up a link between you and the collector ship. See if you can get anything useful from the databanks."_

"Data mine in progress, Shepard." Several windows opened next to the piloting interface, literal walls of text racing by as the AI analyzed the data.

Joker tried to quash the unease bubbling in his gut as EDI worked. _Relax, man. You've been watching too many old vids. I mean, it's not like they'd actually be able to crash an AI and then stick around to gloat about it, right? That's just an old sci-fi cliche._

One of the screens dissolved into static just as he finished the thought. _What the-_ Another one froze, then another. _Oh crap. Don't tell me..._

He looked to his left just as EDI's blue avatar vanished. A bright red insectoid one replaced it. The freakish hologram turned its "head" toward Joker, looking straight into his eyes.

"That can't be good."

* * *

"Not that I give a fuck, but why do you really trust that illusive bastard?"

Miranda kept her eyes trained on the empty hallway as she brushed off Jack's comment. "He's been good to me, and I've never had any reason not to."

The convict scoffed behind her, drawing the officer's attention. "I thought you were supposed to be a smart bitch, not a blind one."

"The Illusive Man doesn't make a habit out of betraying his operatives," she barked resentfully. "It's a mutually beneficial partnership."

"Hate to burst your bubble, princess, but guys like him always have an angle. Power, dominance, wealth... people tend to get attached to that sort of thing."

"He's working in the best interests of all humani-."

"Don't you _dare_ call that prick a humanitarian!" Her biotics flared as she stared down the Cerberus officer.

Miranda drew on her own biotic power as she took a defensive stance. _Damn it, this is the last thing we need right now._

The officer matched Jack's gaze as she waited for any sign of an attack. She began to semiconsciously count off the seconds in her head as the face-off dragged on.

_Ten..._

_Twenty..._

_Forty-five..._

Jack backed off. "I don't care what it is that's got you in that rich fucker's pocket, but mark my words: Cerberus will use it against you. The bastard doesn't give a shit about his people. Even if he doesn't personally stab you in the back, someone else will."

_Ori? He'd never..._

She shook her head in defiance. "That's not going to-"

Both women turned their heads as the sound of a distant explosion echoed down the hall from where Shepard had gone.

"What the fuck was that?"

A low, thundering rumble was began to shake the floor under their feet as Miranda tried and failed to come up with an answer. She strained her hearing, trying to pick up on any more sounds.

"Is that... buzzing?" Her eyes suddenly widened as she drew her SMG. "We need to fall back to the shuttle. Now!"

* * *

_Spirits, that stings..._

Garrus had no idea where the explosion had come from. He only knew that he was standing next to Shepard a moment before it, next to a console where the commander had accessed the data banks.

The next, he was sprawled out on the ground.

_Wake up, soldier! You've got a fight to win!_

The turian shook himself awake at the thought as his old military training kicked in. He flexed his arms and legs, noting with relief that his hearing was quickly returning. He lifted his head, noticing that he was not the only one who had been knocked away by the blast. Mordin was already on his feet, an arm extended as he helped Jacob up.

Garrus stood and walked over to the salarian. "Where's Shepard?"

The doctor pointed over his shoulder as he gave an annoyed huff. "Platform flew away with commander and half of squad. No injured. Explosion likely nonlethal, meant to subdue for capture. Ship was a trap."

_Nothing's ever routine with the collectors..._ "Who else is here?"

"C'mon, Garrus, I'm not even cloaked this time."

The turian jumped; Kasumi had been standing right behind him. "Can you stop doing-"

"Yeah, yeah. 'Don't spook the turian.' Love to drag this out, hon, but we've got company!"

Garrus followed her gaze, his flanges flaring in surprise. Another platform was quickly gliding toward them, packed with collectors and husks.

_We're out in the open, and there's too many to take on directly... But Shepard..._

_He was back on Omega, sprinting up the stairs toward the balcony as he ignored his ragged breath._

_"Please," he muttered, "don't let them be..."_

_The scene that greeted him was gruesome. Bodies were strewn across the room, only a few of which were in body bags. A salarian was crouched by the ledge, firing his assault rifle in the general direction of the bridge below. A batarian was bent low over one of the corpses, quietly zipping a body bag closed over a drell._

_"How?"_

_The batarian turned toward him, disgust evident in all four of his eyes. He hissed a single word: "Sidonis."_

_"No..."_

_A gunship roared up to the ledge, sending out a volley of machine gun fire as the salarian fell._

_"Sidonis..."_

_The batarian's eyes squinted shut in pain as he was cut down._

**_"SIDONIS!"_**

"Garrus, snap out of it!"

"What..." He looked around. Jacob and Mordin were shooting at the collectors on the platform as Kasumi shook the turian.

"We can't have you zoning out now, Garrus."

"Right." He could see another platform floating toward them, the distinct form of a pair of scions easily visible among the reinforcements. "We can't wait for Shepard here. Fall back to the shuttle!"

"Understood," Jacob answered as he Threw a husk into several of its allies.

Garrus drew his vindicator, adding his own suppressive fire to the mix. "Mordin, cryo blast now!" Several of the unimpeded hostiles stopped in their tracks, frozen in place. "Move it!"

The four of them ran back the way they came, without even stopping to return fire. They soon passed several familiar landmarks: the collectors' experiment, the piles of decaying human colonists.

_We're almost there,_ he realized. Sure enough, he could hear gunfire ahead of them, mixed in with occasional shouts from Zaeed and Jack. He put on an extra burst of speed, nearly slipping on a patch of the orange substance on the floor as he rounded a corner. _There they are!_

A heavy door slammed shut in front of the group, cutting them off.

Kasumi rushed over to the obstruction, her omni-tool alight. Garrus caught part of a muttered phrase that his translator couldn't quite decode. "I've never seen encryption so thorough. It'll take me all day to get this thing open on my own."

The turian activated his communicator. "EDI, can you help us get this door open?"

_"I am simultaneously fighting collector firewalls in over eight thousand nodes. I am tasked to capacity."_

He shook his head as he closed the link. "We need to keep moving. There's a door open over that way."

The thief paused. "I don't rememb-"

"No time, Kasumi!"

Mordin moved alongside the turian as the group hightailed it through the new passageway. "Door was previously closed. Unlikely to have been opened on accident. Suggests new tactic: isolate squad members to spring trap."

"I know they're herding us, Mordin. But unless we find cover, we're dead."

Kasumi pointed just ahead of them. "The interface on that door is still active. I can hack it to shut behind us."

"Do it. Everyone else, form up on that door. We need to give her some time."

Jacob and Mordin didn't bother giving an affirmative as they took cover by the door frame, their weapons firing at the approaching horde before they even entered the room beyond. Garrus drew his rocket launcher, sending several of the explosives at the mass of enemies and slowing down their front lines. An alarm began beeping in his ear as his shields began to fail, but he ignored it.

"I've got it!"

The door began to close excruciatingly slowly as Garrus's shields completely failed on him. "Suppressing fire! Give them everything you've got!"

The leading wave of collectors was only ten meters away from the half-open door by that point. Several of them began to fall as the four of them unleashed a maelstrom of bullets, flashbangs, cryo blasts, flamethrower bursts, biotic Throws, and missiles.

It still wasn't enough.

The door was still over a quarter of the way open when one of the drones burst into flame less than three meters away. Its body gave off an unearthly energy as it turned toward Jacob.

**We are the Harbinger of your fate.**

_No..._

The possessed husk sent a dark ball of energy at Jacob, knocking him away from his cover.

_Not again._

**We know this hurts you.**

It sent out a fireball, which burned straight through the operative's barriers. Garrus watched as the man's face contorted in pain.

**We will end your suffering.**

_Never again._

Garrus shoved the wounded man aside as he threw himself between the collector and the human. The door closed with a solid thud as pain lanced its way across the turian's shoulder.

Mordin was on him within moments. "Localized burns, flesh wound. Hold still." The pain flared white-hot for a moment before the turian felt the familiar cooling sensation of medi-gel. "Sterilized. Range of motion will be severely limited until back on Normandy. Advise using one-handed weapons for the time being." The salarian offered his SMG, which Garrus accepted.

"Thanks, Mordin. How're you holding up, Jacob?"

"Minor burns, mostly superficial," the doctor answered for him. "Will be fine."

"I appreciate the assist, Archangel," he gratefully replied.

Garrus nodded as he looked around the chamber. The room at least looked defensible; the area by the door was raised and had several outcroppings that could be used as cover. He could see several doors below, but all of them were closed for the time being.

"So what's the plan, Garrus?" Kasumi queried.

"We send EDI our location, then hole up here until Shepard or Zaeed can assist us."

"Agreed. Will need assistance to fight our way out. Lack of intel, enemy territory."

"Anyone else wondering why they've stopped banging on the door?"

Garrus held up a fist at Jacob's words. The group fell silent as he listened. Sure enough, the door behind them wasn't making a sound.

What he did hear was a distinct clicking noise.

The four of them looked up simultaneously, easily finding the source of the clicks.

"This day just keeps getting better, doesn't it?"

They opened fire as a praetorian slammed into the ground in front of them.

* * *

"The controls are locked down. It'll take too long for me to hack into the system."

A large chain of explosions worked its way along the platform, forcing Tali to dive behind another piece of cover. _That was too close._

Shepard fired his recently-acquired revenant at a possessed collector, sending a storm of bullets its way. "We'll have to trust EDI then." He quickly ducked back behind cover as a fireball zoomed toward his position; many of his shots had missed.

Tali grumbled as she drew her shotgun. _Trust the AI?_ she thought as she fired at the scion that had targeted her earlier. _I'd rather fight a thresher maw on foot._

She began to lose track of time as the four of them fought back against the reapers' slaves. Though they weren't injured yet, the enemy numbers seemed endless; as soon as they thought the last enemy had fallen, a new platform would fly by with reinforcements.

_We can't do this forever,_ Tali thought as another pair of platforms drifted toward them.

Without warning, the reinforcements froze in the air. Their platforms shuddered and suddenly sped toward each other. A small explosion engulfed the indoctrinated aliens before they fell into the abyss below them.

Edi's voice came in over the radio. _"I have regained control of the platform, Shepard."_

"Thank the ancestors," the quarian breathed. "I thought we were going to have to fight every collector here."

_"Perhaps you should consider upgrading my hardware."_

Tali's face burned at the AI's comment. Before she could utter a retort, however, Shepard spoke up. "Did you get what we needed?"

_"I found data that could help us successfully navigate the Omega 4 relay. I have also found the turian distress call that served as the lure for this trap. The collectors were the source. It is unusual."_

"What are you getting at?"

_"Turian emergency channels have secondary encryption. It is present, but corrupted in the message. It is not possible that the Illusive Man would believe the distress call was genuine."_

"Why are you so sure?"

_"I found the anomaly with Cerberus detection protocols. He wrote them."_

Grunt sounded less than pleased. "He knew it was a trap? I'll gut that bastard."

"We don't have time to throw blame around," John replied. "We'll question him when we're out."

"What about Garrus and Kasumi?" Tali asked. "We should find out what happened to them."

_"Vakarian attempted to lead the rest of the squad back to the shuttle, but was cut off. They are requesting immediate assistance."_

"His loss," the krogan grunted. "He was too weak for this fight."

"We're going after them!" John spat. "That's final."

Joker made himself heard on the comms. _"Uh... Commander, we've got another problem. The collector ship is powering up. You need to get out before their weapons come online. I'm not losing another Normandy!"_

_"I do not have full control of their systems,"_ EDI replied. _"I will do what I can. Sending coordinates for rendezvous and shuttle extraction."_

Shepard barely waited for their platform to touch ground before jumping down. "Come on, let's move."

Tali fell into step behind him as the group began following EDI's directions.

_"Around the corner, take the door on your right."_

A small group of collectors barred the way, but they were nowhere near as organized as they had been during the ambush. Shepard and Samara easily carved their way through the foes using their biotics.

"I need kills too!" a dejected Grunt yelled as the fighting died down.

The rest of the squad ignored his comment as EDI spoke again.

_"Be ready. I am opening a door on the far side of the room. I've told Garrus to bring his squad through when it opens."_

"Do it, EDI."

The doors opened, allowing the turian's group to stumble into the room. All four of them were heavily battered and burned. _What could possibly have done-_

"Praetorian!"

The quarian's eyes widened as the monstrosity hovered through the open doorway. _That thing's as big as a colossus!_ Its eyes began to glow as she aimed her pistol.

"Damn it!"

An alarm beeped in her ear as she ducked behind cover. The praetorian's eye beams had gone straight through her shields, cutting a hole in her suit over her forearm. A thin trickle of red could be seen dripping from it as she reached for one of her emergency patches. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Mordin already rushing to her side. The salarian began to help fix her up as Garrus took cover next to Shepard.

"Bastards herded us toward a room with that thing," the turian updated as the rest of the squad took turns firing at the gigantic husk. "We didn't have the firepower to take it down, not with my shoulder like this."

"What about the missile launcher?" the commander asked, flinching as an eye-beam hit the other side of his cover.

"Fried when Jacob tried to use it. That, and every time we down its barriers-"

He was interrupted as a tremor rippled through the room around them. Tali peeked over her cover just in time to see the praetorian let out an earsplitting roar, its body becoming shrouded in a slight aura as it took back to the air.

The turian fired a burst from his SMG, the rounds deflecting harmlessly from the shroud before he returned to cover. "It recharges its defenses every time it does that, but it's being strategic about it. Almost like they've learned from the last one we fought. We haven't been able to put a scratch on the thing."

The praetorian rounded a corner, forcing the four of them to seek new cover as its eye beams fried the ground where they had been previously. Thankfully, Mordin and Tali had finished patching her arm by that point. John resumed the conversation as soon as he was behind cover. "Have you tried baiting it?"

"Not enough people to try."

His gaze drifted to Tali. "I wasn't thinking about a person."

Tali nodded as his words clicked in her mind. "Explosive protocol?"

He nodded, drawing the Cain. "Right under it." He keyed the squad radio. "Everyone, hold your fire and get a reload while you can. When I give the word, hit it with everything you've got."

Tali took a quick glance over the cover to track the human-prothean hybrid as it fired at Samara. She shuddered. _Will Chiktikka be enough?_ The quarian felt a comforting pressure on her shoulder. She didn't need to turn around to know whose hand it was. Tali nodded in relief as she quietly relished the momentary contact.

"I'm ready when you are, John."

"Do it."

A glowing orange orb spawned right below the praetorian. An arc of electricity made its way from the drone, striking the beast's barriers. It roared as it tried to glide away and get a look at its new attacker, but the drone was much faster. Chiktikka zapped the monster again as it flew back under it, causing it to twitch its legs in frustration.

_It's only a matter of time before-_

The praetorian slammed into the ground right above the drone, giving a triumphant screech just before the construct detonated. The husk listed to one side, momentarily stunned.

"Hit it now!"

An assortment of weapons fire, grenades, biotic Warps, and concussion blasts struck the monster, causing its barrier to ripple in response. The creature began to scream as the shield faded away, the squad's rounds finally hitting home. Tali had filled her pistol's heat sink by that time, and was reaching for another thermal clip when she heard a series of beeps from behind her.

Something flew over her head, leaving a faint smoke trail as it traversed the distance between her and the praetorian in less than a blink of an eye. A flash caused her to squint her eyes shut as her visor's settings struggled to compensate for the blinding light. She could feel the intense wave of heat radiating from the blast, even through her sh'rayan. The quarian chanced another glance back at the praetorian. as the light began to dim.

_Keelah._

The husk had been completely obliterated by Shepard's Cain. All she could see of the monster's corpse were a few twisted and blackened scraps that she assumed had been its legs, scattered under a quickly-dissipating mushroom cloud. The blast had also created a hole in the ceiling, exposing part of the room above theirs.

Grunt wandered over to where they were standing, clearly impressed by the carnage that the weapon had wrought. "Where can I get one of those?"

John laughed. "Secondhand, if you'd believe it. All you have to do is return a stolen set of plans for it."

"Human admiral's actions generous. STG less open with experimental tech. Irrelevant. Would recommend returning to shuttle, now that squad is reunited."

Garrus acknowledged the salarian. "The quickest way back is the route my group came from. We should hurry."

As if the ship had been listening, the doorway that the turian had entered through slammed shut. Shepard reached for his earpiece.

"EDI, we've got a problem here."

_"A temporary setback on firewall 3217. Rerouting commands through firewall 7164. I have successfully opened a door on the opposite wall. I will keep it open as long as I can."_

"You heard her. Let's get out of here!"

* * *

After fighting collectors for what felt like half an eternity, John Shepard would have been glad to fight almost anything else.

Unfortunately, husks didn't make his list of preferred enemies.

_"Commander? Hate to rush you, but those weapons are about to come online. Might want to double-time it. You know, so we can leave before they blow the Normandy in half."_

"I'm working on it, Joker!" he barked. The man fired a burst from his revenant at another zombified human, putting it down. He had become more accustomed to the weapon's massive recoil over the past few minutes, but he was still missing more shots than he would have liked.

_The second I get back, I'm having EDI look for stabilizers to put on this thing. I don't care if Jacob has to build them himself._

He sprayed a longer stream of fire at another group of indoctrinated humans, noting with satisfaction that several of them didn't rise. _At least it makes up for it with its stopping power._

The man sent a Shockwave through the crowd of enemies for what felt like the twentieth time and glanced around for the rest of his squad. Unfortunately, most of them were getting put in the same situation he was in.

Jacob was isolated, but still managed to use his biotics to great effect. Even so, his face was drenched with sweat as he reloaded his eviscerator.

Tali was also separated from the group, though she still had backup from her combat drone as she fired shell after shell from her own shotgun.

Grunt had given up on his own weapons, charging through the crowd of husks and ripping them apart with his bare hands as his eyes burned with the fury of his bloodrage. He had collected a disturbingly high amount of wounds in the process, however. Even he wouldn't be able to keep it up forever.

Garrus had managed to stick with Kasumi and Mordin, their combined tech attacks creating a small safe zone around them as they worked their way toward the shuttle. Even so, John could see the doubt creeping into the turian's eyes. As he looked, his friend's vision seemed to glaze over, allowing one of the husks to get dangerously close before he elbowed it in the face.

_What was that about?_

John turned his attention back to the husks closest to him, unleashing another barrage from his weapon as he began to step backwards. He Threw several of them back, but the horde just kept coming. The Spectre was full-on backpedaling by then, his back quickly meeting the wall.

"Shepard!"

He risked another look and saw Samara looking directly at him. The justicar was similarly fighting with her back to a wall, her weapons either missing or ignored. She turned toward a husk and wreathed it in violet energy. A similar haze shrouded her as she stood up straighter and delivered a powerful Shockwave, clearing much of the crowd between her and Garrus. "You know what you must do."

Despite his misgivings, he knew she had a point. Shepard focused in on one of the husks in front of him, feeling the dark energy build up inside him. He unleashed the storm of energy at it, causing the creature to rise into the air.

_Screams in the dark. All is lost. The scratching becomes louder. **SUBMIT!**_

John could feel his fatigue lifting as the aura faded. He quickly followed it with a Push, clearing some space around himself as he lashed out toward another husk.

_**You must obey.** It moves without thought, driven by the voice as the pain becomes infinite. Why won't it stop?_

John Charged through the group, stopping next to Tali as he punched a husk in the face.

"What the- John, what have I told you about doing that?" the surprised quarian yelped.

"Something about not Charging when it's too dangerous, I think." He followed his words with a burst of fire from his machine gun. "I figured it was more dangerous not to, in this case."

He swore he could hear a chuckle as she blasted a husk's head with her shotgun. "And you don't consider a quarian with a shotgun dangerous?"

"Everyone knows that only applies to reapers, geth, and turians named Vakarian." His comment earned a true laugh from her as he Threw some more of the husks out of the way. They started making progress toward where Garrus' part of the group was, their efforts bolstered as they picked up Jacob on the way.

"We need to get to the shuttle now, Commander. There's no time to waste," the tired Cerberus operative commented as he Pulled several husks into the air for Chiktikka to finish off.

"I'm aware, Jacob," he commented. His breath was becoming ragged again; the biotic attacks were quickly burning through his energy. He could see a husk charging straight for him from the corner of his eye.

_Oh no you don't._

He lashed out with the energy, causing purple sparks to appear on its body.

_Purpose. Obedience. Success. All that mattered. It turned toward the three, and the scratching made it focus on the human in the middle. **Kill the Shepard.** It charged, only to be grasped by an unseen force. Drained. Pained. It looked into the eyes of the target. **You have failed.** The female pointed its weapon._

Tali fired, shredding the husk with her shotgun. Her tone was one of shock as she turned toward Shepard. "Keelah, John. What the hell was that?"

He shook his head, disturbed by what he had seen. The man could feel the energy he had gained from the creature bolstering him, but after seeing that...

It felt like he was tainted by it.

"I have no idea," he finally admitted. "I need to ask Samara about it once we get out of here."

The trio resumed their labored march toward the shuttle. Up ahead, Shepard could pick up the sound of gunfire. A familiar voice could be heard barking out orders as Garrus's part of the group rounded the corner before them.

"How far back are they, Archangel? I'd be goddamn pissed if we went all this way just to lose the man who signs my checks."

"He's right behind us. Glad to see Grunt already made it."

"Well start loading up. Glass says Joker's getting antsy out there."

The three of them quickly fought their way across the last few feet of space between them and the shuttle. John let out a gasp as he saw the carnage before him.

Gathered in heaps scattered throughout the room were dozens of collector and husk corpses. Atop one of them, over two meters high, were Thane and Zaeed, the two of them using their particle rifle and sniper to great effect. Miranda and Jack then popped out from behind two smaller heaps, clearing out most of the husks that stood between him and the shuttle.

"It's about goddamn time, Commander. Any longer and we'd be better off building a wall with these corpses." The merc paused to shoot at a pair of husks from his position. "Now would be a good time to go."

Shepard waved the rest of the squad forward. "Is everyone else on board?"

"Nah, the krogan had a goddamn temper tantrum as soon as he saw the bodies. No idea what his goddamn problem is."

The commander looked in the direction that the merc had indicated, seeing Grunt still in the midst of his bloodrage. **"DIE!"** he roared, charging not toward the shuttle, but back to the mass of husks behind him.

"Behavior odd. Bloodrage duration atypical, indicates extreme emotional stress. Possible connection with Okeer's imprinting? May be possible side effect of developing 'pure' krogan. Would like to study further later, without threat of destruction. Recommend immediate sedation."

Shepard nodded and Pulled the krogan into the air, toward the shuttle. "Do it, Mordin," he stated as Grunt began to thrash wildly.

The salarian nodded, launching a dart at the hanging target. Grunt waved his arms a final time before suddenly going limp. The commander raised an eyebrow as he lowered the krogan into the shuttle. His look was not lost on the doctor. "Neural shock effects not permanent. Will wear off within twenty minutes. Hormones, heart rate will have returned to normal by then."

Zaeed led gold team back into the shuttle as John went to the copilot's seat. "Punch it, Glass."

"Will do, Commander."

The pilot crossed the distance to the Normandy in less than a minute, though John still felt like it was a minute too long. He could see lights activating along the hull of the collector ship as Glass completed the docking sequence.

_"Strap in, people! I'm gonna make them work for it this time."_

He could feel the ship shift its weight as Joker made a series of evasive maneuvers. After a few tense seconds, he felt a slight tug of acceleration as the ship jumped to FTL. John let out a long breath as he leaned forward in his seat.

_We made it._

* * *

Miranda waited patiently as the commander weighed his options. He finally nodded his head, coming to a decision.

"Just because we can follow the collectors through the relay doesn't mean we can take them out. I don't want to go after them until I know we're ready."

"Sooner or later we need that IFF. I say, why wait?"

"Because we've got distractions galore in this goddamn ship, Cerberus," Zaeed bluntly answered. "We only just made it out of there by the skin of our teeth. If we rush in now, all we'll get is a footnote in the obituaries on Omega about how everyone vanished. And that's if we're goddamn lucky."

The XO quietly agreed. _Until Grunt's problem is taken care of, he'll be a serious liability._ She cleared her throat, drawing everyone's attention as she delivered a more neutral response. "It's your call, Commander. Whatever you decide, we're with you."

A round of nods ran through the squad as Shepard looked up at them. "You're dismissed."

Miranda began to follow the group out of the communications room, noticing that the commander was waving the turian over. "What happened out there, Garrus?"

The turian's shoulders slumped a little as the woman crossed the threshold. "I... lost focus, Commander. It won't happen again."

"Is it about Sidonis?"

The door closed behind her, cutting off the rest of their conversation.

"Well if it isn't the perfect lapdog, herself."

Miranda didn't have the patience to deal with this right then. "What do you want, Jack?"

Her mouth curled in a sneer as she leaned against the wall, barring the door to the science lab. "Just wondering if the bitch has finally opened her eyes."

"You heard Mordin," she retorted, barely controlling the level of her voice. "It was a necessary risk that paid off in the end."

"Pfft. That's always what it's about for you Cerberus types: it's always worth it if it pays off." She shook her head mockingly. "And here I thought the quarian was the only fucking charity case."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Ah," the convict chuckled, "So the bitch really is blind."

Miranda chose that moment to leave, allowing Jack to fill the vacuum with a parting comment.

"Sooner or later, you're gonna find out I've been right all along.

"And I'll be right fucking there with the popcorn."

* * *

John's hand hovered over the elevator's controls, his finger next to the graphic for the engineering deck.

_She'll be too busy to talk,_ he thought sadly. Joker's sudden jump to FTL, while necessary, had bypassed several safeguards. Between that and repairing the systems overloaded by the collectors' trap, the engineers were sure to be busy for the next several hours, if not days. _Besides, I have to find out what that biotic attack is._

He selected the crew deck. The trip was mercifully quick (_thanks to Tali_) and he soon crossed the threshold into Samara's quarters.

"Shepard," she acknowledged without standing. The biotic haze from her meditation state faded as the justicar beckoned him forward. "There is much I must tell you."

He accepted the invitation, sitting down on the floor next to her. "What was that power, anyway? I keep having these visions whenever I use it."

The justicar's stoic demeanor fell for a moment, her eyes screwed tight as she dipped her head. "Before I elaborate, I must ask that you never use it unless you absolutely must." She turned toward him. "This is not a request that I take lightly."

John raised an eyebrow, but nodded all the same. "You have my word."

She gazed out toward the window. "Are you familiar with asari mind-melding abilities?"

He attempted to block out his past experiences with Liara. "Yes, you can use biotics to bridge your mind with another person."

Samara nodded, her gaze never leaving the starry expanse. "True. It forms a link between nervous systems. Thoughts... Memories... Dreams... Emotions..." John averted his eyes, but she continued as if she hadn't noticed. "Mind-melding allows us to share experiences with one-another in a much more intimate way than other species or communication methods could ever hope."

Shepard frowned. "Last time I checked, I was still human. How does an asari ability play into this?"

If the justicar was bothered by his interruption, she didn't show it. "The reason that mind-melding only works for asari has to do with a unique quality in our DNA. Other species lack this genetic trait."

He leaned forward, intrigued. "So... are you saying I can mind-meld?"

"Not truly. The gene I referred to is what allows melding to be done safely." She turned toward him. "No gene therapy has ever successfully recreated this particular trait, not even what Cerberus did to revive you. Without it, your melding abilities are broken."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Your mind will force itself into theirs, allowing you to relive their experiences and memories. In the process, you absorb the energy within their body, increasing your own strength and stamina." She closed her eyes and continued. "It... is a particularly painful process. Physically, the victim's nerves turn against them, simultaneously sending intense signals of pain to their mind as they are Lifted into the air. The mind is then consumed for information." The justicar paused for a moment. "Many species have a concept of one's mental state taking a distinct form, a 'soul', if you will. This power effectively rips it away from its target. Everything that the victim was is then broken down and devoured in the most painful way possible." She turned, her eyes fixing on his. "It is called Reaving."

_Oh my God..._ "So, anyone I've... Reaved..."

"Robbing and rending," Samara stated when he trailed off. "A bullet is a mercy compared to that fate."

John tried unsuccessfully to hide a shiver as he considered what had happened to the Eclipse mercs on Illium. "That's horrible."

"I am glad you appreciate the magnitude of this burden. The Code would have required me to kill you after releasing me from my oath if you had not."

He paused his reflection to look back at her. "Why?"

"One of the reasons behind the founding of the Justicar Order was to suppress those who abused their ability to Reave."

"...And what about you?"

"It is a rare genetic defect among my species. I am merely a carrier; I have been able to meld normally for my entire life. I didn't find out about my Reaving ability until well into my matron stage. Since then, I have never used it out of malice or anger."

Though her expression had been unchanged, Shepard could tell that he had struck a nerve. He quickly rose, nodding in farewell as he took his leave. His curiosity peaked as he reached the door, however. "If you're only a carrier, what happens with those who can't safely meld at all?"

"I hope you never have to find out."

* * *

**Note from the author:  
****Yup, Shepard can steal souls. Neat, huh? Next chapter, he goes all Shang Tsung on people and starts randomly ordering Thane to "Finish him!"  
****Hint: that drell's got some surprisingly gruesome fatality moves.**

**Lol, I kid, I kid.**

**There will be no extreme abuse of the Spectre's newfound ability. If/when someone gets Reaved from now on, Shep will consider it a big deal.**

**p.s. ****It's the triumphant return of Nicholas Glass! OC used by permission from Levi Matthew's _Finding a_** _**Way.**_


	8. Just Like Old Crimes

7: Just Like Old Crimes

_"Only one more..."_

_A shot rang out, the pistol scoring a perfect hit on the last remaining geth. A figure ran over to the synthetic as it crumpled to the ground, her omni-tool alight as she tried to establish a link with the dying AI's systems._

_"C'mon, you bosh'tet. Yes!"_

_The Girl quickly copied the files before they could be deleted forever. "Nobody's gotten into a geth's memory core in years," she muttered as she looked through the surviving data. "So much knowledge on the geth. Activities... New technologies... Even Tovo wouldn't be able to complain. I could-"_

_Her voice choked up as she remembered all the people she hadn't seen in four years._

_Quala'Oro._

_Kal'Reegar._

_Shala'Raan._

_Father._

_"I could finally complete my Pilgrimage."_

_"That will not help your people."_

_The Girl froze, her omni-tool powering off on its own accord just before she could play back an audio recording that had caught her eye._

_The one that should have proven Saren Arterius was a traitor to the Council._

_"Wait, that's not what happened on Eden Pr-"_

_To her horror, the geth reactivated, reaching an arm out to grab her throat. She held out her left hand, trying to overload its systems._

_"Why isn't my omni-tool working?"_

_"You must put the Servants back in their place," the geth toned._

_Her eyes widened as she struggled to get free. The landscape of Eden Prime began to melt away, replaced by darkness as the geth carried her toward its destination. She tried to scream, but all that came out was a mess of unintelligible beeps and static._

_The geth looked at her. "It is what your people want most."_

_The Girl realized with horror that her sh'rayan had vanished, her form exposed to the air around her. She frantically turned her head, getting flashes of the room as she attempted to break the geth's hold. What she saw terrified her even more than her sudden lack of protection._

_It was exactly like where they had found David Archer._

_She screeched again, her words once more coming out as electronic gibberish. The geth ignored her, placing her in the middle of the room as electrical cables and instruments snaked themselves over her body and jammed into her skin._

_"This is how the quarians would retake Rannoch."_

_The equipment around and within the Girl flared to life, coursing with energy and threatening to tear her apart. She cried out once more, her words finally making sense:_

_"Quiet, please make it stop!"_

_The geth's face began to contort itself, molding into that of John Shepard. The Shepard-geth's eyes glowed malevolently as it raised her mother's knife._

_"And that is why you must die."_

_The blade flashed through the air._

"NOOOO!"

**Thud**

"Top o' the mornin' to you too, Tali."

"Whaa..." The quarian groggily breathed as her hand bumped into her visor. She looked around, seeing that she was in the crew quarters, sitting up in her bed.

"You're such a dick sometimes, Ken."

"Again with the feminine energy. I swear, it's like I'm an endangered species here."

Gabby ignored the other engineer as she made her way over to Tali's side. "Another one?"

"It's nothing, Gabby." She willed herself to stop shivering as she sat up more slowly. "I'll be fine."

"You sure?"

"Positive." The quarian tried her best to take a 'happy' stance as she got out of bed. "I need to go to the shuttle bay anyway, we should be close to Tuchanka by now."

"If you insist," the woman stated, allowing her to walk out the door. She didn't quite hush her voice enough to keep Tali from hearing a whisper meant for Ken: "I worry about her sometimes."

"Ya, me too. I'm sure she'd be sleepin' much better if she were dreaming about me."

Tali heard what sounded suspiciously like a redheaded engineer getting thumped on the back of his head.

"Any dream with you in it is bound to be a nightmare."

* * *

_Jack can't be right... can she?_

Miranda quietly sat in one corner of the shuttle, ignoring the conversations around her as she turned toward the window. Her eyes looked at the landscape of the planet below, but her mind didn't see rapidly-closing details of the planet Tuchanka.

What she did see was her father's face.

_"Your training is complete, Miranda."_

_The Pupil trailed a few steps behind Henry Lawson as they strode down one of the many corridors in his estate. A pair of bodyguards escorted them down a wing toward their destination._

_One that she hadn't been privy to._

_"You're shrewd, powerful, full of drive, and have learned how to wield an empire. However, you have failed the final test."_

_Her heart began to race as she sized up the men around her. They were armed, yes, and sure to be as well-trained as her. Between their stature and her lack of a weapon, it was bound to be anything but an easy fight._

_And that's without mentioning her father._

_"I do have one more task for you."_

_The Pupil stopped behind the man as he opened a door, her mind derailed from her musings on being betrayed by the simple statement. The man waved her in, the room beyond filled with a soft light._

_The room was spotless, the walls and floor an immaculate white that easily reflected the illumination from a simple lamp on a marble counter. A surgical tray sat next to a transparent isolation chamber, its small occupant barely visible from the doorway. As she stepped closer, the man continued speaking_

_"You do not have the vision needed as an heir, but perhaps you can find some here."_

_The Pupil came to a halt next to the surgical tray. From this spot, she was able to clearly see into the soundproof chamber as a child, likely a newborn, wailed from within._

_"This is your sister: Oriana. I want you to teach her everything you know. To make sure that she will succeed where you have failed. That is your final task."_

_Teach?_

_All of her past teachers were either dead or missing._

_The fact stuck in her head as she noticed her reflection in the spotless top of the surgical tray: the hardened jawline, the dark circles under her untrusting eyes, the professionally-maintained hairstyle._

_She could see little of those in the child, whose unkempt hair rebelliously tangled in on itself over her scalp. The child momentarily stopped her bawling, noticing her new audience. A hand rose jerkily toward the Pupil, the slightest of smiles gracing the baby's pudgy face. One detail stood out to the young woman as the child mouthed out an inaudible babble:_

_Oriana had her eyes._

_The Pupil leaned closer to the chamber, knowing then that she would never carry out her father's final order. She quietly spoke, making sure that the men by the door wouldn't pick up on a single syllable._

_"I won't let him turn you into me."_

"Touching down in thirty."

Glass's simple declaration brought Miranda out of her reminiscence. Around the shuttle's passenger area, she could see Garrus, Tali, and Jacob double-checking their weapons while Grunt paced restlessly across the small space.

_She'll be fine,_ the officer thought as she rose to her feet.

Somehow, she didn't believe the words as much as she usually did.

* * *

"You look well for dead, Shepard. Should have known the Void couldn't hold you."

The Spectre laughed with the krogan as they shook hands, his mirth overpowering the feeling in his gut at the battlemaster's words. "Guess you really meant what you said about uniting the krogan, Wrex. Almost wouldn't have believed it before what happened on Virmire."

"It's a good thing we didn't have to kill each other then," the krogan said, a humorous glint in his eye as he held out his arms, indicating the large camp surrounding them. "You made the rise of clan Urdnot possible. Virmire was a turning point, and I've been able to open their eyes to the things we should have been doing." He paused to look at a krogan standing idly behind him, who was clearly irritated at Shepard's sudden entrance. "Though some of them have needed more than a little prying."

"We humans have a saying, 'Rome wasn't built in a day.' It looks like you've done well for yourself though."

The warrior gave a pleased grunt. "The empire that conquered half of your people's civilization at one point. I'm glad you understand. Destroying Saren's cure saved us from his manipulations. If not for that, the other clans wouldn't have seen the writing on the wall."

The krogan behind Wrex spoke up. "You've abandoned many traditions to get your way... Dangerous."

The clan leader's response was immediate, a powerful headbutt sending the other krogan to the ground.

"Speak when spoken to, Uvenk. I'll drag your clan to glory whether it likes it or not."

Wrex made his way over to a stone chair, sitting in it while motioning for Shepard and his squad to approach. "So Shepard, how's the Normandy?"

"Destroyed in a surprise attack. I ended up spaced."

The krogan chuckled. "Wouldn't know it by looking at you. The benefits of a redundant nervous system..."

The man raised his arm, rubbing his neck. "Yeah, humans don't have that."

"Oh, must've hurt like hell. But you've got a fine new ship. Even managed to fill it with some old faces, I see." He looked behind the human. "So Tali, what ship did you join?"

The quarian jumped. "The Neema. How did you know it was me?"

"You don't see purple on quarians that often. That and you're the only one I've known who would've been able to put up with Garrus and Shepard here." He smiled, his facial scars stretching as he made the gesture. "Still, I'm surprised that one's still working. Took a direct hit from a geth cruiser back when your people fled Rannoch, if memory serves."

"We do what we can with what we have," the quarian answered, her eyes settling on the floor.

"Why do you address this suit-rat so? Weaklings like her don't deserve your attention. Next thing I know, you're going to act like you're friends with a damned turian."

Wrex didn't bother to rise, his hand glowing purple as he Pushed the offending krogan off his feet. "This quarian has proven herself a better warrior than half of the whelps in your clan, Uvenk. You would do well to remain silent. And speaking of turians..." He turned toward the one in Shepard's party. "I see Garrus is sporting some new mementos. I'm sorry to say that our females are heavily guarded against intruders."

The turian's eyes flashed. "Good thing, too. Wouldn't want them attacking each other over a battle-scared veteran like me."

"How dare you jest about our women? Your scar was probably from some weak salarian or a damned cooking acci-"

This time, it was Shepard who knocked Uvenk off his feet with his own Push. "This turian survived a rocket blast to the face. Something many of the krogan I've fought would've succumbed to."

"Truer words have never been spoken," Wrex added with a laugh. "You always struck me as a stubborn one, Vakarian. Made you hard to kill, despite all those times we pulled each other's asses out of the fire. Then again, it takes a special kind of stubborn to take on half of Omega."

The turian nodded, then froze. John had the feeling that if he were human, his skin would've blanched. "What did you say?"

"Relax, Archangel. Anyone you see here who's claiming to be part of the Blood Pack is either dead, an idiot, or under my thumb," Wrex answered. "You'll have nothing to worry about from them here. Just stay away from Weyrloc territory and you won't have any problems."

The turian loosened up, a held breath coming out in a slow exhale. "Still, I'm surprised that you knew."

"I've seen the pictures. Only one turian I know with modified C-Sec armor that was that good of a marksman." He turned back toward the Spectre. "But I doubt Shepard came here just for the friendly talk. Especially if he brought along a krogan of his own."

John nodded, waving Grunt forward. "That's part of the reason we came. We think he has some sort of illness, but none of the doctors on our ship can figure out what's wrong with him."

Wrex stood up, eyeing the younger krogan inquisitively. He slowly circled around him, eventually sniffing at the air over Grunt. His eyes flashed, a low growl coming from his throat as he turned toward John. "If I didn't know you as well as I do, Shepard, you would be dead right now. We don't let aliens this close to our young."

"We came across him during a mission, while trying to find someone else."

The older krogan grunted, his gaze falling back to Shepard's squadmate. "What's your name, whelp? Didn't anyone tell you what's expected of you?"

"My name is Grunt. I was tank-bred by the warlord, Okeer. Distilled from the lines of Kredak, Moro, Shiag-"

"This thing is an abomination. It speaks of warlords, but is the offspring of a syringe."

Wrex ignored Uvenk's outburst this time, his face fixed in quiet contemplation. "Okeer is a very old name... A very _hated_ name."

"He is dead," Grunt stated.

"Of course. How could he be alive if you're with Shepard?" The krogan turned back toward his stone throne, settling himself in the seat as he continued his pensive stare at the young warrior. "Hmm... A clone undertaking the Rite..."

Uvenk's eyes widened. "You're actually considering it?"

"More than that, Uvenk."

"This is too far!" the other krogan yelled, rushing away in an irritated huff. "Your clan may rule, but this _thing_ is not krogan."

"Idiot," the old battlemaster stated.

"Couldn't agree more," Shepard admitted. "So what's wrong with him?"

"There's nothing wrong with him. He is becoming a full adult."

"So is this supposed to be a sort of adulthood ritual?" Jacob asked.

"Knowing the krogan, it likely involves a lot of killing," Miranda replied with a nod.

"Whatever," Wrex said with indifference. "I don't care what aliens call it. So, Grunt," he addressed the remaining krogan. "Do you wish to stand with Clan Urdnot?"

The younger krogan turned around, looking at the warriors milling about the Urdnot encampment. A low rumble emanated from his throat before he faced the clan leader.

"My blood demands this. It is what I was made for."

Wrex's face stretched once more into a wide grin.

"Good boy."

* * *

"Wow, Shepard. 'Name our target and it will die'? You've only been here an hour and you're already turning krogan on me."

"Not as much as I'd like. I probably shouldn't have headbutted Uvenk."

Garrus glanced toward the commander, his faceplates showing mock-surprise as they continued walking. "Krogan are hardheaded? What an amazing discovery! We've _got_ to tell Mordin about this."

"You know, I could test it out on a turian, too... Just so he has a reference point."

"I'm flattered, but human blood and gore clash with my facepaint a bit too much." The turian gave a half-hearted laugh as he and the commander came to a stop in a nook, well out of earshot of the rest of the squad. Their grins faded as the Spectre cleared his throat.

"Garrus, about what happened on the collector ship-"

"I already know what you're going to say, Shepard," he snapped, more forcefully than he intended. "And I agree. I'm a damn threat to the squad if it happens again." He sighed, his vision settling on the ground in front of him. "I don't like it, but I'd have done the same thing in your position."

He felt a hand on his shoulder as the Spectre spoke. "I'm not benching you permanently, Garrus. It's just until we find Sidonis."

"And then we'll gut the bastard, just like Saleon." A hundred thoughts of exactly how he would do it flashed through the turian's mind as he spoke the words, none of them seeming harsh enough to atone for the deaths his former squad member had caused.

"We'll get him, Garrus. As soon as he rears his head. There's no Shepard without Vakarian, right?"

"Right," the turian breathed, some of the tension leaving his muscles. "We should get back. From the sound of it, you've got some stuff to kill."

"Yeah, but what about you? You're not going to break into Kasumi's bar, are you?"

"As much as I'd love a beer right now, I need to stay sober for what I'm gonna do."

"Let me guess: 'calibrations'."

They both let out a chuckle as they began to walk back to the group. "Well the collectors did mess with some systems before we jumped."

"I swear, you're almost as in love with that gun as Zaeed is with his old avenger."

"Hey, the thanix cannon gets me!" he retorted, sounding offended. "She even lets me party with other girls and doesn't get jealous."

"Only because your mantis can't kill a frigate in one shot."

"Exactly! That sort of connection is something special."

Shepard slowed to a stop, his gaze going vacant.

_Here we go..._ "Thinking about her again?" Garrus asked, making a barely-subtle nod in the direction of the squad.

The human's face reddened, though he didn't give the surprised jump that the turian was hoping for. "Definitely not the thanix."

Garrus gave a mild grin at the reply. "Relax, we turians wrote the book on 'it's complicated' four centuries before you discovered electricity." He gestured with his arm, prompting the Spectre to resume walking. "You know, you could always try making a move," he added in a whisper. "A sparring match might do you some good."

The human gave a loud laugh. "How big is the betting pool now?"

"You wound me, Shepard. A good turian would only suggest that out of the good in his heart."

"A 'good turian' would have stayed at C-sec."

"Point," Garrus acknowledged as they came within hearing range of the rest of the squad. Heads began to turn their way as he continued, his voice louder than normal. "Still, we should shoot pyjacks together more often. It's almost as good as a round of Scoreboard."

"Scoreboard?" Grunt's voice carried more than a spoonful of interest.

Shepard's eyes flashed. "You did that on purpose, didn't you?"

Garrus shrugged. "I guess I'm really not a good turian."

"It's a game," Shepard elaborated with a shake of his head. "Garrus' visor can track kills for individual squad members, so we can see who gets the most kills during a mission." Grunt was on the verge of drooling in anticipation. "BUT he's got some calibrations to do back on the Normandy, so we won't be able to play it today."

"Come on, Shepard. It's Grunt's big day." Garrus didn't bother to mask the smugness from his voice. "I'm sure Tali's suit could adapt the program."

"Well... with a few adjustments... it could, yes..." the quarian shyly replied. Her hands met each other as her voice trailed off.

"Then it's settled!" the turian stated as he sent her the program with his omni-tool. "You're playing Scoreboard during Grunt's Rite."

"Just don't keep track of my kills, Tali," Shepard murmured, one hand over his face. "Somehow, I think I already know what's going to happen."

"Bold words, Battlemaster," Grunt growled as he walked away. "But I'm not going to let you win that easily."

Garrus stifled a laugh as the Cerberus agents shrugged and began to make their way toward the parked tomkah. _They really don't know..._

Shepard caught his eye, discreetly moving toward the turian while Tali worked with her omni-tool. "I'm not going to protect you when she beats him," he said in a hushed voice.

The turian shrugged. "Well, you or Grunt could win... But I'd place my bet on 'double-lightning strikes' or whatever it was Kaidan called it on Feros."

"You're counting on it, aren't you?"

"I'm surprised you aren't. That girl almost had a jaded, fourteen-hundred-year-old krogan battlemaster believing in divine intervention."

"Garrus..."

"Look at it this way: if she wins... _again_, she can get congratulated personally by her captain."

The human arched an eyebrow, the gears clearly spinning in his head. "I don't remember asking for a wingman."

"I'm Archangel, Shepard," he said with a parting nod. "I've gotta do something to keep my nickname."

* * *

_Intruders? Anger. Mine!_

Shepard returned to his own mind while the final klixen dropped to the ground. He shook himself as the purple aura around him faded; even with the animal's energy, he still felt drained.

_And that was only the second wave._

"What's the score?" came a loud bellow as Grunt half-stomped, half ran toward Tali. "Who's leading?"

_At least he's having fun._

"John's tied with you at twenty-eight kills, followed by Jacob with twenty-six."

The Spectre raised an eyebrow. "I thought I said I wasn't playing?"

Her eyes flashed toward him, then looked away just as quickly when she noticed the klixen. The quarian's reply was barely above a whisper. "And I thought you weren't going to do any Reaving."

Guilt clawed at the commander's chest at her words. However, he was spared his shame when Miranda came to his rescue. "They're non-sentient, Tali. They don't have much of a mind to begin with."

_Of course, Miranda would know._ He had only mentioned his newfound abilities to Garrus and Tali so far, but it didn't surprise him that the Cerberus officer would find out from one of the listening devices he had undoubtedly missed.

Jacob, on the other hand, looked slightly confused. "You mean that thing you did to those husks back on the collector ship?"

"Tell you what, Jacob: you let me in on your training regimen, and I'll tell you anything you want about it." The operative had shown time and again that he knew his own limits; John had never seen Jacob suffer from biotic burnout like him. He'd need to boost his own stamina to keep himself from relying on Reaving like he had on the collector ship.

_Especially when I'm carrying this thing around,_ he thought with a glance at his revenant. The forty-kilo weapon gleamed in the sun, a new stabilizer unit adorning its underside.

The soldier nodded. "Deal. We should probably activate the keystone again."

Grunt practically jumped with glee as he raced toward the gigantic elevator. He hit a switch on it, causing a voice to ring out across the courtyard as a massive cylindrical object was lifted into the air.

**Now, all krogan bear the genophage: our reward, our curse. It is a fight where the only goal is survival.**

The weight crashed to the ground, sending a tremor through the earth around them.

"Feel that? Everything is shaking."

The quakes refused to die away, steadily gaining in energy.

_No, they wouldn't... would they?_

He met the quarian's eyes, the bright orbs widening behind her visor as she came to the same conclusion he had.

"Scatter!" he yelled, sprinting away from the keystone's activation switch. Immediately after, a cloud of dust rose out of the ground with a mighty roar. A pair of gigantic spikes embedded themselves in the concrete walkway they had been standing on, dragging a large block of it deep into the soil.

"Status? Everyone check in!" he yelled as adrenaline blocked out his fatigue.

"I'm okay, John."

"Jacob and I are fine, Commander."

"What the hell was that thing?" Jacob asked.

"A worthy opponent," Grunt growled in answer as the ground began to shake once more. A cloud of dust was kicked up just under a hundred meters away from them as a primal shriek split the air around them. Inside the cloud, he could see the silhouette of the last thing he wanted to fight without vehicle support.

The assailant towered over them, the top of its head half a dozen stories above the ground. Its segmented body resembled that of a centipede, with several gigantic claws extending along its sides. A much larger set of claws sprouted from the sides of its face like gigantic antennae, each of which looked large and sharp enough to impale a frigate. Its eyes, a set of four slits, glared at them with an insatiable hunger as its head reared back. Shepard found his gaze drawn to the thing's gullet, a cavernous opening that could have easily fit the tomkah they had rode in on with room to spare. Its luminous blue tongue drew back into its mouth as a quartet of flaps covered the opening.

"Thresher maw!" Miranda yelled, right as it spat a glob of acid at the group.

The squad dove away, the attack hitting the ground harmlessly as they brought their weapons to bear. It targeted Shepard next, spitting another deadly projectile his way as he took cover behind a metal tower, the remains of some long-destroyed building's foundation.

Evidently, whatever trials time had brought down the building in the past hadn't included a direct shot of thresher maw venom.

"Shit," Shepard swore as the tower crashed down, narrowly missing both him and Tali. The quarian ignored the distraction, her pistol barking as she voiced her displeasure at the situation.

"I wish we still had the Mako!"

John fired another burst at the beast as he backpedaled, looking for some more solid cover. "I thought you didn't like my driving."

"The giant cannon made up for it," the quarian answered.

John continued to shoot at the monster as Joker's voice echoed through his communicator.

_"That's what she said."_

Shepard dove, narrowly avoiding a glob of acid aimed at him. The ground fizzled and frothed where the attack landed.

"Joker, get off this channel!" he barked, unleashing a barrage of fire from his machine gun. Whatever reply the pilot made was drowned out by a roar from the maw as it wriggled its way back underground.

And then it was quiet.

_Where the hell is it?_

Shepard made a quick hand signal, telling the squad to fan out and keep their eyes peeled. He took a few tentative steps forward.

And then he felt it.

A rumble that shook his bones like nothing had before.

It was close.

Without thinking, the man Charged away. Not a moment too soon, it appeared, as the giant worm burst through the ground where he had been moments before. Shots pinged harmlessly off its hide as its head snaked back, its four gigantic eyes fixed on John.

Its acid wouldn't miss from that range.

The man's machine gun barked in defiance, incendiary tracers marking a line up the beast's body as he ignored the weapon's jarring recoil. The fire reached its partially-open mouth just as it leaned forward.

And screeched in pain.

_What the-_ The Spectre barely had time to dodge as the maw dove forward, burying its head in the ground.

_I wonder..._

He drew his pistol, aiming for the beast's mouth as it pulled itself out of the ground. He squeezed the trigger, earning another unearthly scream before the maw retreated back underground. It no longer tried to hide its actions, rocks flying through the air as the earth above it was forced upward in a winding path toward Jacob. The biotic was tossed to the ground as it burst forth once more.

"Everyone, aim at its tongue!" Shepard yelled, popping off a few shots in hopes of distracting the monster.

_"Of course... Target the big, glowing weak point for MASSIVE DAMAGE! Good idea, Commander."_

"Joker, get the hell off the line!"

_"Just making sure everyone got the memo, Commander."_

Before John could spout a few choice profanities at the pilot, Tali's voice was heard.

"You know, Zaeed showed me this human game called arm wrestling. Maybe you'd like to play, Joker?"

There was a long pause over the line as the maw lunged at Miranda. The biotic managed to evade the attack, Throwing a large rock in its face to cover her escape. Jacob was back on his feet, firing a few rounds at the beast's head and drawing its attention back on himself.

_"Shutting up now. Over and out."_

_Man, I love that girl._

By that time, the thresher maw had completely given up on its acid attacks. Rather than expose itself, it had taken to trying to swallow them whole. While it had been unsuccessful so far, the repeated slamming kept them from landing any more solid hits. Shepard barely had time to draw a bead on the thing's head between its lunging attacks.

And he wasn't the only one.

"He'll just tire us out if this keeps up!" Miranda yelled as Tali dodged an attack by distracting it with Chiktikka. "We need a plan, Commander."

"I'm all ears, Miranda," he called as he Charged away from another lunge.

"I've got one."

The commander looked toward Grunt, who looked like something straight from an action holo. The krogan hefted his vindicator in his left hand, firing wildly at the thresher maw. His right hand held a claymore shotgun salvaged from somewhere on the battlefield, its vents glowing with overcharged energy.

The creature turned its attention to the krogan, lunging at the new threat.

Grunt laughed, tossing aside the assault rifle and holding the shotgun properly.

**"I AM KROGAN!"**

A miniature star was visible for a split second as the beast's mouth closed around him, the only evidence that the krogan had successfully fired a carnage blast from his weapon.

The results were messy.

The thresher maw's head erupted in ribbons of gore and venom, its mildly caustic flesh landing in patches all around the area. Its body gave a great heave before crashing unceremoniously, the many appendages twitching as it died.

"Grunt?"

The krogan slowly climbed to his feet, giving a toothy grin as he fetched his discarded assault rifle. "Now that was a good fight."

Shepard nodded, his eyes traveling over the many spots where the krogan's armor appeared to have melted. Orange trails of blood were visible where the thresher maw's acid had burned straight through. The scales on one of his arms were sizzling slightly as he flexed the limb, though it appeared to be only a minor annoyance to the krogan. John couldn't help but notice that the warrior was walking with a slight limp. "Are you okay?"

"I've still got some fight left in me, Battlemaster." His eyes narrowed as he focused on something behind the human. "And it looks like I just might need it."

Shepard turned, noticing that a group of krogan was walking toward them. At the head of the group was Uvenk, who only had eyes for Grunt.

"You live, and you brought down the thresher maw. No one has done that since Urdnot Wrex, himself."

"My krantt gave me strength beyond my genes," Grunt growled as he straightened up. "Which are damned good."

The Gatatog clan leader nodded slightly, deep in thought. "I wonder... You say Okeer was the only one who created you, without alien meddling?"

Miranda narrowed her eyes at the krogan distastefully. "You're hiding something, Uvenk. What're you getting at?"

Uvenk looked annoyed by her question, as if his reason should be obvious. "A warrior like Grunt will command great strength, enough to make his less-than-desirable origins tolerable."

"What?" Grunt's voice was a menacing growl.

If the krogan leader heard the threat in his tone, he ignored it. "Your existence is a mistake, but your potential could tip the balance of power within the clans. You could be accepted into our clan, with restrictions."

Shepard found himself echoing his ally's growl as Uvenk walked right up to Grunt, seemingly getting a closer look at the tank-born warrior.

"You would not be allowed to breed, of course, or serve on an alien ship. But you would carry the proud name of Clan Gatatog."

"That's enough," Shepard growled. "If I know Grunt, your answer's coming in the form of a bullet."

"You are not krogan," Uvenk scoffed. He turned to face Grunt again, his dark eyes staring deep into the tank-born's blue ones. "This human cannot truly know our ways. He cannot speak for what he doesn't know. But what say you, Grunt? Ready to join an honorable clan?"

Surprisingly, the krogan didn't raise his newly-acquired shotgun. Nor did he give the clan leader a headbutt or a swift punch. Not even a growl escaped his lips.

On the contrary, Grunt was laughing.

He whispered something as his guffaws died down, his words lost on the commander.

Evidently, Uvenk didn't catch them either. "What was that?" he asked, stepping closer.

"I said, 'He does know me.'"

Almost faster than Shepard's eyes could track, the tank-born's knee rose and delivered a dirty blow to the clan leader, causing him to lean forward. The krogan bodyguards began to reach for their weapons while the Spectre wrapped his hand around his phalanx pistol. Before any of them could fire, however, Grunt laid his hands on the clan leader.

One rested on the chestplate of Uvenk's armor, holding him in place.

The other gripped the edge of the krogan's bony crest, his claws digging into Uvenk's flesh.

John's eyes widened. His mind played back to a conversation he'd had with Zaeed back when the merc had joined the Normandy.

_"If you get a knife stuck in there just right-"_

**"Raaaaaaaaugh!"**

Uvenk's bloodcurdling scream shocked everyone to a standstill. Grunt delivered a headbutt to the wounded krogan before tossing his severed crest to the ground. He raised his shotgun, firing at the nearest of the bodyguards.

Grunt's shot was the drop that broke the floodgates. Within the next two seconds, the rest of Shepard's squad had raised and fired their own weapons, making short work of the other shellshocked Gatatog krogan.

The tank-born then turned his attention back to the broken leader at his feet, fury in his eyes.

"You... you dare?" Uvenk mumbled weakly.

"You spat on my father's name. On Shepard's name. On the names of my krantt. You opposed me until you saw my strength, then tried to parade me as a trophy. You speak of honor, Uvenk, but I see none from your actions." He raised his shotgun, pressing the barrel against Uvenk's head.

"So yes, I dare."

The sound Grunt's final shotgun blast echoed through the courtyard as the squad finally allowed themselves to relax. Jacob quickly sat down, motioning for medigel. Miranda bent down and examined his leg, uttering a quiet curse as she looked at his injury.

"Christ, Jacob. You shouldn't be walking with a sprain that bad."

The man winced as she tested his ankle. "Kinda hard not to when something's trying to swallow you whole."

"At least it wasn't as stupid as that stunt Uvenk pulled," Shepard added, leaning against one of the only metal towers that hadn't been obliterated by the thresher maw. "Why he thought he could take us on after killing _that_, I will never know."

"His mistake. Doesn't matter now. So what's the final score?" Grunt asked.

Tali activated the display on her omni-tool. "Grunt had thirty-one kills over John's thirty." She paused to wait for the krogan's inevitable roar of triumph to end before continuing. "I had twenty-seven kills."

_Wow, I guess Tali finally lost a round,_ Shepard thought as the quarian continued to read off the results. _Wait until Garrus hears this._

"Jacob had twenty-six, Miranda had twenty-thr... That can't be right."

Jacob nodded, indicating two krogan that had entry wounds in their throat and face, respectively. "It's okay, Shepard was quicker on the draw back there. He took both of those kills fair and square."

"No, that's not what I meant."

"What is it?" Miranda queried, looking up from the splint she had been making for Jacob's ankle.

"It says there's another squad member: Combat Drone TZNR314, five kills."

John scanned the surroundings, wary. "Weird, we didn't have any outside help."

"Actually... that's Chiktikka's designation."

A wave of surprise passed across the squad members' faces as they did the math. John turned away from the others so they wouldn't see the smirk crossing his features.

_And there's the divine intervention Garrus mentioned._

Grunt, on the other hand, was in disbelief. His voice was subdued, like that of a human child who had just found out their favorite pet had run away.

"So that means..."

* * *

_To: Mordin Solus_

_From: [Sender ID Redacted, Salarian Tasks Group Authority 4752XJ-38]_

_It has come to our attention that Maelon Heplorn has been seen in Weyrloc territory near one of the clan's strongholds. He has been out of contact with other operatives for some time, and the Weyrloc clan has been far more hostile in their views toward other sapient species than Urdnot._

_It is our belief that he is being held there under duress, due to your previous work with him on [REDACTED]. We saw that the Normandy entered Tuchanka orbit on [REDACTED] and believed that you would be interested in extracting him._

_We don't need to remind you what it would mean if they undid our work._

Mordin had memorized the message before he had even reached the elevator, let alone asking a now-clearly-bothered Glass to take him down to Tuchanka's surface right after bringing Garrus back aboard. Even so, he still found himself rereading it during the shuttle ride, searching for something he had missed.

He still knew that the act was futile.

The salarian took a deep breath, though he remained upright in the copilot's chair. _Ransom unlikely, Maelon came from impoverished family. STG operations also strictly "black ops", would not bargain with krogan for single life. Retribution for actions? No, would have sought others from project as well. Assistants, family, friends. Would have been mentioned in message, likely have found out from own family first. Must contact nephew after mission. Has been too long._

He nodded as the shuttle descended into what had once been a massive water supply system, coming to a stop in a converted hangar. _Only logical conclusion to cure genophage, use of Maelon's knowledge from work with me on modifications. Hope it is not too late._

Mordin sprang out of the shuttle at the thought, already running when a trio of krogan barred his way.

"Halt, _salarian_!" The leader of the group sneered as he said the last word. "What is your purpose here?"

_Already raising weapons. Distrust evident. Unnecessary._

_But not entirely undeserved._

"Am part of Shepard's crew. Urgent matter, need to find him now."

The warriors paused, their guns slowly lowering as they looked at him with surprise. One spoke from the back of the group.

"The one that killed a thresher maw with his tank-born?"

_Interesting development. Grunt's capabilities far beyond expectations, even with squad assistance._

The leader silenced his outspoken ally with a glare as he addressed the salarian. "You may pass. He will be speaking with the clan leader. Don't try anything funny along the way, _salarian_."

"Understood," he responded, ignoring the veiled threat as he passed by them. Mordin passed through a tunnel, emerging into a large, open space full of krogan. Several of them stiffened as he stepped forward. _Must find Shepard quickly. Likely to face aggression if I linger-_

"Ha! And I thought she only won so often because we were fighting geth all the time!"

"This is crap! She must have tampered with the program."

"Her combat drone, her kills. And trust me, that quarian's got a quad, but she's got too much honor to try cheating a krogan out of a killing competition. Am I right, Tali?"

A hushed mumble and an irritated growl were heard before the first voice spoke up again. "Relax, Urdnot Grunt, you still got the biggest kill of the day. It's been centuries since we've had a proper **MAW FEAST**!" A few cheers could be heard as the speaker bellowed the last two words, loud enough to echo around the room.

_Tali'Zorah and Grunt? Intriguing... 'Urdnot' title indicates clan acceptance. Likely his mission was successful. Commander must be there with them._

Mordin ignored the stares he got from the surrounding krogan as he approached the leader's pedestal. The bodyguard blocking his path was almost too busy cheering to notice the salarian before he could move to the commander's side.

_Almost,_ the salarian thought as the guard held out an arm, a threatening growl rumbling from his throat.

* * *

Tali quietly huddled next to Miranda as Mordin and Shepard slid up to the other side of the door. The Spectre gave a slight nod toward her as he held up three fingers.

Two.

One.

As the last finger joined the others in his fist, the quarian slammed the interface on the door. It slid open with a slight whirr as they rushed in, guns drawn-

_Empty._

Tali relaxed as John gave the all clear. She calmly aimed it at the floor as they made their way to the next doorway. _Where are all the krogan?_

Outside of the Weyrloc-held hospital, they had fought through a couple dozen soldiers: vorcha, varren, and a few krogan warriors. The Blood Pack had pulled out all the stops in their attempts to keep them out of the building.

Inside, however, was another story.

Nervousness, anticipation, an adrenaline rush, the almost-disappointed cooldown, the mounting tension. The progression felt routine to Tali as they opened another door, again finding the room vacant.

_That's the eighth one,_ she thought with increasing apprehension. They moved to the last doorway in the hall, which was directly across from an elevator. With a nod from Shepard, the squad breached the room.

A single krogan sat in the center of the floor, his arms wrapped around his knees. A pile of refuse sat unattended in a corner. His unfocused eyes passed over the foursome. "You're not Blood Pack?"

"Hold your fire," John ordered. He motioned to Tali and Miranda with a quick wave of his hand as he approached the lone krogan occupant. "What happened to you?"

"I'm an Urdnot scout. The Weyrloc killed my partner, got me, brought me here."

The two women took their leave and stood by to watch the elevator. _It wouldn't do to have John get ambushed while we're here._

"I take it that wasn't the first time you won at Scoreboard."

The operative's statement caught Tali off-guard. _She never tried to talk to me before now._

"Who wants to know?"

"I was just curious. The dossier didn't mention much about your non-tech capabilities."

_Figures. She just wants to know what I can do for the mission._

"It was luck, mostly. A hacked geth surprising its squad here, a fortunate overload there... Most of Chiktikka's kills just now were from when it detonated in the middle of a varren pack. And like Wrex said, we were fighting geth most of the time back then. I had an advantage."

Miranda raised an eyebrow. "Still, most people don't beat krogan in kill competitions that often."

"I thought so too," the quarian admitted. "Garrus struck me as the sort of guy who might try that sort of thing to make me interested, but..."

"But?"

"I never found anything suspicious in the programming. Even checked it again when I adapted it for the suit earlier today. Wrex and John still won a fair amount of times when I wasn't on the ground team, and I did tie with Wrex when we went to Noveria, but-"

"You?" Shepard's voice boomed from the next room. "I said a badass, not some scout whining like a quarian with a tummy ache!"

Tali did a double-take. "What? Did he just-? I can't- I'm standing right here!" she sputtered.

The krogan, apparently, was too focused on Shepard to notice. He climbed unsteadily to his feet. "I'm up, and I'm going to the female camp!"

"Damn right, you are," the Spectre said. "Now get back there and show them what you're worth. Go, go!"

The scout gave a final roar as he trudged away. Tali made a move toward the commander, but Miranda spoke before she could do more than glare at him.

"We should check the medical equipment in these rooms. Maybe there's something that we can use."

"Unlikely to find data pertinent to mission. Would have seen Maelon. Still, could find something to help scout. Good idea, in case of withdrawal, poisoning. Unknown side effects."

"Alright," John agreed. "We'll do a quick check and take the elevator." The Spectre flashed Tali a grin as he walked by her.

_He doesn't know I heard him._

The quarian followed the rest as they entered an exam room that had been cleared earlier. A form was covered by a sheet on an exam table, the nearby computers still active. Mordin took a quick look under the covering.

"Dead krogan. Female. Tumors indicate experimentation. No restraint marks. Volunteer." The salarian looked toward Shepard and smoothed the tarp where he had disturbed it. "Sterile Weyrloc female willing to risk procedures. Hoped for cure. Pointless. Pointless waste of life."

"I didn't expect you to be concerned about the sight of a dead krogan," the human responded.

As their voices began to rise, Tali felt a nudge to her arm. Miranda nodded toward the doorway and Tali took the hint.

_They need to work this out. I'll get John back later._

"Sounds like Shepard's very opinionated on the subject," the human said as the door cut off the argument going on behind her.

_Great, more probing for intel._ "He thinks the genophage was a mistake, but I'm sure you already knew that, Miranda."

"Still, if he wants to find a cure, Cerberus has capable scientists-"

"If he even got anything on the experiment, I wouldn't steal it for you."

Miranda's eyes flashed. "Just consider it, Tali. You could be doing a huge favor to him. Don't you want to pay him back for helping with your pilgrimage? Or perhaps for what you did to him on Haest-"

"That's none of your damn business!" The quarian huffed, her finger jammed in the woman's chest. She noticed that Miranda's biotics were flaring up, but the human hadn't attacked her.

Yet.

Tali grudgingly turned away from her. "I trust John and his judgement more than anything. But I will never trust Cerberus."

"This is bigger than humanity alone, Tali. We're more than capable of doing the right-"

"You didn't see Toombs and Kahoku," the quarian interrupted. "And that's without even mentioning what happened to the Idenna. This conversation is over."

An awkward silence settled between them after that. To Miranda's credit, Tali couldn't tell if her last words had any effect on the officer's resolve. The quarian was grateful when John and Mordin finally emerged from the exam room, moving to the elevator. The Spectre hit the down button, and some music began to play from an unseen speaker.

_Haven't I heard that song before?_

"Curious. Have had chances to work with quarians before. Unique situation due to immune system. Suits a marvel of technology. Always wondered where research would be focused if not for immunodeficiency and geth uprising."

_Not again._ "Can we talk about this later?"

"Of course, more time on Normandy. Less chance of sudden death by gunshot." The salarian began to hum to himself as the elevator continued its slow crawl.

"I take it Tali doesn't like elevators," Miranda murmured.

John laughed aloud. "That's an understatement."

_Yes, I'm definitely going to get him back._

Before she could think of something properly embarrassing to mention about him, the elevator came to a stop. They walked out into a large storage area.

A group of krogan were already waiting.

"I am the speaker for Clan Weyrloc, offworlders. You have shed our blood. By rights, you should be dead already. But Weyrloc Guld, the chief of chiefs, has ordered that you be given leave to flee and spread the message of our coming." The leader of the group was evidently fond of hearing his own voice.

Shepard, however, didn't seem to be impressed.

"If I flee, I might trip over the dozen krogan I killed to get here. I think I'll take my chances."

Tali had to fight back the laughter that threatened to overcome her at his words. From the expression on Miranda's face, she wasn't the only one.

"You killed our youngest and weakest, human. They were not worthy of remaining near our glorious work. Inside, you will find only hardened Blood Pack veterans. Tempered by savagery and war, and dedicated to one goal."

_Is this krogan for real?_ Tali found her mind wandering as the clanspeaker continued to threaten them. _At least he's dedicated._ John's voice brought her back to earth.

"Half the galaxy sees the krogan as victims. If you start a war, you'll lose their support."

"We have the Blood Pack. We have the salarian. When our clan numbers in the millions, we will not need support." The krogan began to pace as he rambled on about how they would bring down the other clans and enslave the rest of the galaxy.

Tali could only shake her head.

She looked to the side, and noted that Miranda also had a look of displeasure etched into her features. The two of them shared a nod, then looked at Shepard. The man had done well at hiding his own annoyance, but it was clear his patience was wearing thin. The two caught his attention with their expressions, and he nodded.

He drew his pistol. "You talk too much."

The Spectre fired a single shot. The krogan flinched, but began to laugh as he noticed that he was unscathed.

"The human cannot hit a simple target!"

Only then did they hear the hissing. The clanspeaker looked down, seeing a gas tank under the walkway he was standing on. Tali could just make out the telltale shimmer of a leak.

Shepard fired again.

* * *

Blessed beyond measure.

A leader to be reckoned with.

Future savior of his species.

The harbinger of vengeance.

The krogan with a destiny.

Those words had defined Guld's rise to power over the past century. Though first said by others, he had begun to see others flock to him as the rumors had spread. After siring two children, keeping Urdnot at bay during their undeclared war of wills, and becoming lucky enough to meet a salarian who was both willing and able to find a cure for the genophage that had crippled his people for a millennium, he found it difficult to argue with the praises lavished upon him.

Those beliefs were shattered as the screams of his son echoed from a floor above.

It was bad enough that his daughter, Trikala, had given her life in the name of the salarian's research less than a day before. They both had known the risks then.

Hearing Kark, the Voice of Clan Weyrloc, yelling in pain was too much for the grieving father.

He wanted blood, and lots of it.

"I need time to make backups of the data," the salarian complained. "We should evacuate, set up somewh-"

"No!" the chief barked. "Don't stop working, Maelon, or you'll find you won't be able to start again." He fed a thermal clip into his shotgun, preparing an overcharged carnage blast to emphasize his point.

The whine of the weapon silenced the scientist. "Understood."

Guld allowed the alien to continue typing at his computer as he addressed his squad. "These intruders are an insult, to both our clan and our people. We cannot allow this work to be stopped. We're going upstairs to get Trikala. If anything happens to get in our way, we'll leave them to rot in Aralakh's unforgiving gaze."

He almost smiled as the other krogan gave a roar of approval before filing out the door. Even though the battlemaster lacked his son's natural charisma, he was heartened that those he commanded still followed him after the desperate measures the experiments had taken.

_They follow me because I am destined for victory. I will not fall._

Heartened by his thoughts, he followed the half-dozen warriors that formed his personal krantt out of the room. They charged up the stairs and into the atrium beyond. A small network of walkways ringed the walls, half of which were blocked off by rubble. They ignored it, however, going up the well-worn path to the upper level. His people were already engaging the intruders as he reached the top of the staircase. He could see the quartet: two humans, a quarian, and a salarian of their own.

_Figures that they'd send the STG to shut us down._

However, he noticed a fifth figure just beyond the doorway that the aliens had taken cover behind.

A charred corpse that was still smoking.

_Kark..._

He could feel the primal roar as it escaped his gullet. He focused on the salarian, preparing a Warp.

**_Damn them all!_**

A small blast from his left sent one of his warriors plummeting over the edge of the walkway. Another succumbed to a second explosion as a generator detonated right next to him. Guld unleashed his biotic attack, though it struck a column as the salarian dived into cover. He felt in some part of his mind that he was hit with a Warp, himself, though it lacked the furious bite he had grown to associate with the biotic power.

**_We must stop them!_**

Guld trudged onward, launching the overcharged shot from his shotgun at one of the humans. The alien staggered, a near miss as the shot exploded on the wall behind him. It didn't stop the man, who leveled his pistol at the head of a charging krogan. The clan leader heard a scream from behind him as a wave of heat flared up behind him, the walls in front suddenly covered by dancing shadows as flames licked at his heels.

**_I must stop them!_**

He felt a shock on his left arm, then batted it in a wide arc. The krogan struck something that erupted, his hearing suddenly overloading from a wave of pressure. He attempted to right his grip on the shotgun, holding it with both arms to reduce the recoil.

However, his left limb didn't respond.

Guld raised the weapon defiantly, firing it one-handed as a biotic Shockwave traveled down the walkway. He mustered enough of a biotic barrier to shield himself from the blast, though he could see another of his squad being staggered and finished off by the quarian's shotgun. He began to advance again as he felt an icy chill race up one of his legs. The quartet of aliens stepped out of cover as the male human began to glow blue.

**_It is my destiny!_**

His sense of orientation was lost as Guld was Lifted off his feet. The krogan squirmed, trying to find the intruders that had dared to hinder his work. He finally succeeded, managing to look the human in the eye as the alien's face molded into some expression he couldn't quite recognize.

Respect?

Sorrow?

Pity?

Guld wasn't able to find out the answer before the human's biotic aura faded. He tumbled in empty space, his battered form helpless as gravity took over. As vertigo shocked him out of his blood rage, all thoughts of destiny vacated his mind.

He had failed.

His clan's warriors were decimated.

The aliens would stop Maelon's research.

_And now I follow my children into the Void._

As the ground rushed to meet him, he found a hint of solace in the thought.

* * *

_Mission report 010: Lazarus Cell_

_From: Operative Miranda Lawson_

_To: The Illusive Man_

_Illusive Man,_

_The trip to Tuchanka has successfully resolved our issues with Grunt's aggression. He has been accepted into Clan Urdnot, though I do not expect any conflicts of interest to arise due to the clan leader's familiarity with Shepard. Operative Taylor was injured in the process of the krogan's maturity ritual, but is expected to recover quickly._

_We also discovered that a previous associate of Doctor Solus had been willingly performing experiments geared toward finding a genophage cure for Clan Weyrloc. The squad infiltrated a Weyrloc stronghold and neutralized the threats it posed. While Shepard convinced the doctor to spare his assistant, Mordin's STG ties should make the assistant a non-issue. All local copies of the experiment data were wiped, though Mordin kept a copy. Attempts to procure a copy of the data for Cerberus have been_

Miranda paused, unsure how to finish the statement. Somehow, declaring that she had completely failed at catching Mordin unaware sounded like a bad idea to her.

_Damn one-hour salarian sleep cycles,_ she cursed.

The officer exhaled, trying to will herself to relax. True, she could have been spending her time planetside at the party being thrown in Grunt's honor, but she didn't give that option a second thought.

_Besides,_ she thought as she saved the draft of her message, _I still have time to get the data._

She opened up the surveillance program on her computer, selecting one of the cameras she'd placed in the tech lab during the salarian's breakfast break.

Her screen showed only static.

_Clever. He won't have found this one though._

Static.

_What about the one with the built-in heat sink?_

Static.

_Not again... Maybe the audiorecorder on his coffee mug?_ Miranda was practically pleading with herself as she switched the feed.

Static.

_That's it! I didn't want to resort to the one with the cloaking field, but..._

An image resolved on the screen, though she was puzzled by what it showed.

_I didn't place that one facing a wall._

Miranda heard a knock at her door. "Enter," she stated without looking up. Surprisingly, the picture on her computer showed activity. The wall on the screen slid away, revealing a human woman sitting at a desk.

Her desk.

"Wished to return bug. Aware that Fenrix Twelve series is particularly expensive. Rare materials, experimental tech. Better uses for mission funding."

_Why am I not surprised?_ the operative asked herself as she faced the doorway. There, sure enough, was Mordin with the mentioned recording device in hand.

"Your concern is noted, Mordin," she responded with an air of disappointment as he handed over the bug. "It appears I've underestimated your perceptiveness once again."

The salarian nodded, but appeared more amused than offended at her admission of spying. "Neither the first nor the last. Found multiple trackers from STG, Shadow Broker, Alliance, Turian Heirarchy, Eclipse after stops on Illium and Citadel."

Miranda's blood pressure spiked as she jumped out of her seat. "Why wasn't I informed?"

"Concern understandable, but not imminent problem. Made EDI, Tali'Zorah aware of breaches. Cooperated surprisingly well with common goal in mind. May have pointed out a few Cerberus devices missed in engineering. Quarian was attentive student. Quick learner." He chuckled to himself as he finished the statement.

The displeasure didn't entirely drain from the woman's face as she sat back down. "I take it you've already sent Maelon's data to the STG."

To her surprise, he gave a slight shake of his head. "Haven't. Not planning to. STG focused on salarian interests." His eyes fixed on her with a hint of hostility. "Cerberus focused on human interests. Irresponsible to give either data from modified krogan genophage."

Miranda ignored the blow to the gut as she arched an eyebrow. "You seemed so adamant about the genophage earlier. I'm surprised you didn't want to just destroy it."

The doctor sighed, his accusatory gaze faltering. "New data, new krogan societal situation. Requires new analysis. Modifications right choice at the time, but... Unsure for now. Would give to Commander, but can't trust Alliance if captured."

"And you can be trusted to know what's best for the krogan?" the Cerberus operative inquired. _Maybe I can get him to doubt himself._

"Unique experiences. Needed to see, gain personal stake. Getting old, open to possibility if krogan peaceful under Wrex. Unsure, but nevertheless... My responsibility." The salarian took a deep breath as he made for the door.

"What if you get it wrong?"

Mordin paused, then resumed his stride. "What if someone else got it wrong?"

_What if they did?_

Miranda contemplated his statement for several seconds before mentally kicking herself. "So much for second chances."

She turned back to her computer, once again wondering how best to put her situation into words as the unfinished draft opened on-screen.

* * *

"Is this seat taken?"

Tali looked up from the rough-hewn stone table, surprised to see Shepard gesturing toward a boulder next to her, a drink in one hand.

"Oh John! I um... It's not really a seat, I mean... It's a rock... But not a taken rock! It's not like Kasumi's sitting on it. I think? Well rocks can't be 'taken' anyway. Silly concept... Rocks in a relationship. Keelah, I probably sound like Mordin right now." Her face heated up as her hands nervously rubbed each other. The grin spreading across the man's face wasn't helping either.

"Nah, he'd never call me by my first name for starters."

_Say 'yes' already!_

Tali took a deep breath, managing to stop the flood of words that had gushed from her mouth as she motioned toward the rock. "True."

The man fished something out of a pocket on his armor as he sat, his smile lingering as her hands continued rub together. She quietly cursed as she noticed, forcing them to her sides.

"Relax, Tali," the Spectre laughed. "I was just giving you your prize for winning at Scoreboard earlier."

"You didn't have to, John." She tried to be modest, but couldn't keep herself from leaning forward ever so slightly.

_He never actually gave me anything for winning before._

"But I did," he said, bringing a brightly-colored tube into view. "I assume you know what this is."

The quarian nodded as she recognized it: a special brand of nutrient paste that had _real fruit_ in it. Her eyes widened for a moment as he handed the tube to her. This particular brand was actually marketed toward turians, and was popular with privileged officers in their military.

And not without good reason.

"This is from Garrus's stash," she quietly observed, resisting the urge to hook it up to her suit right then and there.

"Well he did propose the match in the first place. Figured he wouldn't mind providing your winnings."

Tali chuckled as she pocketed the tube. "Beats what I had in mind for getting him back. He keeps talking about how I killed his chances at elevator-bonding."

John nodded, taking a sip from his glass.

_Perfect._

"Which reminds me, is this just for the game or because you thought I had a 'tummy-ache'?"

The man snorted in surprise, some of his drink spraying unceremoniously from his nose. "You heard? That was... Didn't mean it," he sputtered between attempts to clean himself up.

She giggled as he continued his feeble attempt at an apology, trying to salvage what little composure he had left. "Don't worry, John. That totally made up for it."

"Good thing," he stated. "At least you didn't resort to the shotgun." Tali smiled as John cleared his throat, motioning toward her. "But what were you thinking about before you decided on that devious act of vengeance? Come on, you had been staring at the same boulder for almost ten minutes before I showed up," the man added when she looked at him inquisitively.

The quarian tensed at the last thing he had said. "So you've been watching me for the past ten minutes?"

"Well, I didn't have many options. Looking a krogan in the eye for more than two seconds evidently means 'I want to kill you', so I had to improvise."

Something in her wanted to call him a _bosh'tet_ and ignore the question, but something else made her want to relax a bit on her admittedly uncomfortable seat.

That 'something else' was winning.

She allowed herself to slouch a little, then glanced back toward her right. Tali could see Grunt and Wrex in the midst of a group of krogan. They all laughed at some joke the elder warrior made as they attacked their ryncol and thresher steaks.

"I was just thinking... about the genophage..."

The man sounded puzzled. "I wasn't sure about Maelon's data myself, but if Mordin thinks it could come in handy someday-"

"That's not exactly what I meant," she breathed. "The krogan lost all hope when the genophage was created. They became mercs, bodyguards, assassins... They did everything they could to get away from Tuchanka. Wrex is one of the only ones who acknowledges that his race is dying and is actually trying to do something about it."

She turned back to him. A sad look sat on his face as he nodded his agreement. "I take it that isn't all of it though."

"Right," she muttered. "The turians and salarians weren't afraid of doing... that to the krogan all those years ago, all in the name of protecting themselves when the krogan attacked Palaven."

"Mm-hmm?" John quietly prompted her to continue, a pensive look on his face.

"I was wondering... why didn't the geth try something similar back when they rebelled? I mean, I'm glad they didn't, but they must have known it was an option..."

The question hung over their table like a heavy fog.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to sound morbid," the quarian finally said with a shake of her head. "But thanks for the food." She tried her best to sound cheerful as she changed the subject.

"It is a party, you know." John chuckled, in spite of the dark road their conversation had just left. "You should be enjoying yourself."

Tali's voice had regained some of its former mirth when she spoke again. "I would, but they don't have much that's dextro-friendly. And most of the drinks that are are radioactive."

"Nice try, but I do see a perfectly good dance floor."

Her face suddenly burned. "Um... Yes, but I... Well, I don't do that very often... Not that I don't know how to... But people can be judgmental. And I'm a quarian. It's not like anyone wants to see one dance, let alone actually-" The rest of her sentence caught in her throat.

He began to stand up.

_Keelah, I'm such an idiot._

"Not that I meant it that way, John! I mean it's fine if you want to go... I just thought... But if you'd rather not sit here, I understand."

The human gestured with his hand. "Come on, I can tell you like this song."

_What?_ she thought, realizing that her foot had been tapping to the rhythm of the drums near the dance floor. "But what about you? I saw you dance before back when we dropped by Flux to wait for Anderson. You weren't exactly... graceful."

To her surprise, he gave that infectious smirk as he reached for her hand. "Then that just means everybody will be too busy laughing at me to worry about your dancing. If that gets you to cheer up even a little bit, I'd say it was totally worth it."

_He doesn't care about what happened._

In spite of herself, the quarian felt a smile grace her face. _Maybe I could have... something with him after all._ The thought emboldened her.

She took his hand, her three fingers slipping between his in a comfortable grip. His five fingers seemingly grouped themselves of their own accord.

Just for her.

Tali stood up and nodded.

"Oka-"

"And then I stabbed the guy in the chest. Twisted the thing in there for good measure, too."

Her blood turned to ice as a pair of krogan walked by, talking animatedly to each other. One of them laughed. "Ha! His face must've been priceless."

His partner chortled in response as they continued past John and her. "The human squealed like a pyjack. That's what happens when you let your guard down, though. Two seconds and BAM! Dead guy, contract fulfilled."

They stood in silence as the pair's words mingled back into the din around them. The quarian looked down, her resolve long gone. She felt something settle on her shoulder. "Tali?"

_She hears a soft moan as she twists the knife. Her eyes widen as she makes a startling realization._

_Geth don't groan._

The quarian bolted for the hangar, hoping that the shuttle hadn't returned to the Normandy yet.

* * *

"You're certain, sir? They have been particularly antagonistic ever since the Grayson fiasco."

The Illusive Man exhaled a thin stream of smoke as he admired the star's light. "The doctor may have gone off the reservation, but he was right when he said we should have had a quarian on the project all along."

"I still don't see why we should contact him instead of Lawson."

"The quarians know more about handling AI than any other race. It would be foolish not to use them so long as we have that option."

"And you suddenly believe in diplomacy?"

"Enough, Leng," he barked, turning to face the assassin. "They are the best tools we could have at a time like this." He took a puff of his cigarette, allowing the smoke to calm his nerves. "I have a call to make."

The assassin vanished with a bow as he returned to his chair. The Illusive Man searched through his contacts, finding the person he was looking for. A tone played through a speaker on the console in front of him as the call connected to the receiver's omni-tool.

"What the hell do you want?" a voice barked. "You know your ideals are no longer welcome within this fleet."

He responded in a businesslike tone. "I am merely making an offer, one that would benefit both of our species greatly."

"If you think I'm going to listen to your lies, then you're sorely mistaken. Goodb-"

"We found a way to control the geth."

His interruption earned him a long silence, though he noted with pleasure that the line was still connected. He resisted the urge to grin as he inhaled through his cigarette once more.

He was in control.

"How?" came the curt reply.

"We have our ways, and you stand to gain the most from assisting us."

Another silence greeted him as the person on the other end of the line considered the offer. "And why should I believe that _humanity_ cares?"

He ignored the heavy dose of venom poured on the name of his species as he responded. "Don't play coy with me. You know about the reapers. Your people, if any, should know that Sovereign was not a geth construct."

"Of course not," the voice conceded. "The Council are fools for not being able to see that. None of their technology is even remotely similar, apart from reliance on eezo."

"Indeed. The reapers threaten all life in the galaxy, your species included. Both of our races stand a better chance of survival if the geth were to switch sides." He paused and took another puff. "Your expertise could be just what we need to advance and weaponize our techniques."

He neglected to add that he had no intention of turning the geth over to them.

"If I were to accept your offer," the voice slowly wondered aloud, "what would I expect to call this... project... you need assistance with?"

The Illusive Man's eyes twinkled as he leaned forward. It had almost been too easy to secure the alliance.

But it was all under control.

"It is called Project Overlord."

* * *

**Note from the author:**  
**Nicholas Glass and Quala'Oro are Levi Matthews' characters and are used by permission.  
****("Bow to your sensei. BOW to your sensei!" *respectfully obliges, fears the star-spangled pants*)**


	9. Fact and Fiction

**A quick A/N:  
****This chapter contains a references to what I feel is one of the best twists in the plot of _Finding a Way_, one that I couldn't completely spoil in good conscience without giving a heads-up.**

**If you haven't read through it already, consider this your point of no return.**  
**s/5705653/1/Finding_a_Way**

**Now on with the show!**

* * *

8: Fact and Fiction

"That's the last of 'em Shep."

Miranda lowered her SMG at Kasumi's words, surveying the carnage around her. The floor was practically tiled with Eclipse bodies after their surprise attack.

_At least everything's going to plan so far._

It had been a simple mission: Get in. Find Cerberus agent Tyrone Rawlings. Extract him. Fight their way out. Bring back his data cache for the Illusive Man.

Judging by the clumsily-enacted defenses and the amount of corpses, they wouldn't even have to fight their way back to the shuttle.

_It pays to be prepared._

Between her and Shepard, they had covered all their bases in selecting the team: Kasumi to mask their entrance and take out any alarms, Mordin to help slow down any resistance and help the operative if he was injured, and Jack for the raw power they'd need if things got hairy.

"Fucking pussies never saw us coming," the convict sneered as she kicked a merc to make sure he was dead.

Miranda nodded and checked her omni-tool. An arrow was emblazoned on its display, with "6 m" visible right below it. "The tracker says he's right behind that door, Shepard," she said, pointing in in the same direction as the arrow.

"Alright," the commander replied. "Miranda, Jack: Form up on the door. Kasumi, stay cloaked and be ready to rush in if he's being held hostage. Mordin, cover us from behind."

The officer obeyed, glad that she had been selected to breach the room. The Illusive Man needed to regain control of those files.

And if Miranda knew anything about John Shepard, it was that he wouldn't be the one to hand them over to Cerberus.

"Go!"

The three of them charged in, weapons raised.

Nothing hostile responded.

The operative grimaced as her eyes swept the room. It had been a medical bay at one point. There were cabinets lining the walls, full of shelves and counter space for supplies and tools. Multiple surgical trays were placed around a cot and an examination chair.

Clearly, someone within this particular merc group had had a sick sense of humor.

Shepard called for Mordin as he ran toward the chair, occupied by a restrained human. The man appeared to have been broken and reassembled many times over, evidence of stitching and poorly-reattached appendages clearly visible. What parts of the person that hadn't been detached at some point were horribly marred. His face, in particular, looked bad enough that it would take weeks for Miranda to even consider eating a hamburger.

She didn't wait for the doctor to confirm what she already knew.

The officer began to rummage through a nearby cabinet, searching for anything that looked like it could hold the data Cerberus so desperately needed to recover.

_He can't be allowed to find it first._

She moved on to the next one, hoping that Kasumi hadn't started some searching of her own. Mordin rushed past her as she moved on to a third one. Luckily, the woman didn't have to worry about competing against the kleptomaniac in a scavenger hunt for long; the third cabinet Miranda opened had a single OSD, tossed in carelessly with several blood-stained surgical tools.

_They wanted to torture him, even though they already had it..._

She brushed aside the thought and covertly scanned the device with her omni-tool, copying the data to a second OSD hidden in her glove. The woman shuffled some of the tools around inside as she waited for the download.

"Dead. Tortured. Wounds severe, treated with just enough medigel to prevent death by blood loss. Signs of infection, gangrene. Broken ribs, cheekbone, wrist. Skin removed in patches in several areas. Eight fingers severed, reattached. Two upside-down. Right foot severed, missing. Blood unit quarian, caused immediate allergic reactions throughout entire body. Painful. More than enough injuries to talk. Revenge, personal vendetta."

_Come on..._

"Shepard to Normandy: Rawlings is dead. We're doing a sweep for the data and then we're bugging out."

_"Understood, Commander. I'm bringing the shuttle back your way now."_

_Come on!_

"Kasumi, Jack: help Miranda look for the data. I doubt they'll have moved his cache far. They might have left it on his armor somewhere, Mordin. Long shot, I know, but can you please check."

_Please hurry!_

Her omni-tool flashed and shut down.

"I found it, Shepard." Miranda masked her relief as she extracted herself from the cupboard, disk in hand.

The Spectre nodded and walked over to her, a hand extended.

Though she was covered as far as the Illusive Man was concerned, it wouldn't do to let Shepard forward it to anyone else. "Commander," she pleaded. "Cerberus can't afford to lose this data. If it gets into the wrong hands-"

"Then they'd just have to get it secondhand through the Shadow Broker like everyone else. I'm giving it to the Alliance, Miranda. You're not going to stop me."

The air around her flashed blue as a part of her longed to knock the man's attitude down a notch. However, she quickly stopped herself from Throwing him right then and there.

Not because his own biotics flared in response.

Not because Kasumi and Mordin raised their own weapons, clearly ready to fire if the man gave the word.

"C'mon, Cheerleader. Let's see if you've got some pretty claws to go with that catsuit."

She was proud.

She was powerful.

She was capable.

But she wasn't stupid.

Miranda relented, holding out the original OSD. "Alright, Shepard. You can give them the data."

Jack moved into her view, snatching the disk away to hand to the commander. "That's a good pussy."

The officer quietly fumed as the squad returned to the shuttle. She stared straight ahead as she boarded, then went directly to a seat in the passenger area. The woman didn't say a word as she retreated into her own thoughts.

_How did things turn out like this?_

Back when the commander had been incapacitated by a hallucinating quarian, the Illusive Man had given Miranda command of the vessel. As the XO, it was her duty to take over while he healed. Many of the crew supported the transfer, even if they disagreed with the decision to dump Tali and her friends at the earliest opportunity.

However, Garrus had surprisingly gained enough support to oppose her. Backed by some of the ground team (and EDI, apparently), his mutiny culminated in a one-on-one sparring match over control of the Normandy, with the non-biotic Glass fighting in Miranda's stead. The two had fought each other to a standstill, and were poised to kill each other if it wasn't for Tali's intervention.

Back then, she wasn't surprised when Kasumi and Subject Zero had sided with the turian; the thief had become fast friends with Tali and Jack had never been amicable with her in the first place.

Mordin, however, hadn't backed the turian in the conflict, declaring the whole dispute "utter foolishness". The salarian had tried to stop the fighting for the sake of team cohesion. For the sake of the status quo.

_He sure didn't look conflicted just now._

She sighed, looking out the window. The Normandy was growing larger in the portal as they prepared to dock. _How many of the others would still follow the me, or the Illusive Man if it came to it?_

Someone flopped onto the seat next to her, but Miranda kept her gaze focused on the view. Her attempts to ignore the intruder were battered as the person whispered a few words.

"Nice acting, Cheerleader. Too bad we're fresh out of Cerberus kiss-ass awards."

Her head snapped around of its own volition, but Miranda made sure to look the speaker in the eye. "What do you want, Jack?" she asked, her voice hushed.

The tattooed savant sneered back at her, but didn't raise her voice. "Deny all you want, I know you made a copy before you handed it over. Almost would've fallen for it too. Fucked that up by staying in one cabinet for too damn long."

Miranda's eyes narrowed. "And if I did? It's not like you'd have any proof for the commander."

Jack laughed. "Oh, I'm not telling him." Against Miranda's better judgment, she raised an eyebrow. The movement wasn't lost on the convict, who smiled evilly. "I just want to see you squirm now you've got some temptation."

"I don't believe this," the officer said as she looked pointedly away, trying to end the conversation.

"Not yet, you don't." There was a shudder as the shuttle completed its docking sequence. "I'd bet my imaginary left nut that you don't know about half the shit that's on that disk."

Out of the corner of Miranda's eye, she could see Kasumi getting up and rushing out of the shuttle. She paid the thief no mind as she responded to Jack. "I'm not looking at those files."

"Of course you won't... Until you start believing they've got something on you in there, that is."

The convict guffawed as she walked away, leaving a stunned Miranda alone on the bench.

* * *

_Don't see them talking to each other that often..._

Kasumi sat across from Miranda and Jack in the shuttle, her posture nonchalant as they docked with the Normandy.

_Maybe I can get a listen after we board. Definitely seems more interesting than most of the scuttlebutt that goes around._

She grinned as a plan began to form in her mind. However, the thief was interrupted when her personal comm rang. She checked her omni-tool.

_EDI? She usually just uses the ship intercom._ She took the call on her earbud. "What's up, EDI?"

_"Kasumi, the timing of your arrival is fortunate. Tali'Zorah needs your assistance in the port observation deck."_

Her plans were immediately cast aside as she stood up. There was a slight shudder as the vehicle came to rest. "I'll be right there. Did she say what she wanted to talk about?"

_"She is upset about a conversation she had with the commander on Tuchanka. She has been at your bar for the entire duration of your mission. I recommend you prepare accordingly."_

_Shit! I told her not to think about that!_

Kasumi jumped out the shuttle door before it had fully opened. She sprinted into the elevator, not bothering to hold it open for the rest of the squad.

"What do I need?"

* * *

"Why did I let myself believe it?"

The glass slipped from her hand, landing on the countertop with a solid thunk as the beverage spilled everywhere. The cup rolled off the far edge, and a tinkling sound announced that it had shattered on the floor.

Not that she cared.

"Daaamn empty bottles. Never had any ansswersss anyway," she slurred as she pushed them aside as well. One of the three fell to the deck as well with a crash. She leaned over the bar, her head resting in her hands. Something poked her palm, preventing the shift from being comfortable. "What the-"

The woman mustered enough will and coordination to remove the straw from the port under her chin. "You bosh'tet... Why didn't you just go like you were supposed to?" She looked daggers at the plastic object, which remained silent in her hand. "All you had to do was go with him! Instead you stabbed at the first thing you saw. You went... and hurt him so... so bad... Why... WHY?!"

It didn't answer.

"Stupid hyel'tet!" She flung it away with a sob as she heard a whooshing sound from behind her.

Tali spun around, but immediately regretted it as the world rocked from the sudden motion. She felt the seat swaying under her- or herself swaying on the seat. The quarian raised a hand to her head, trying to slow the spinning as she willed her eyes to focus.

"Tali..."

Even in her state, she could still recognize the voice. She smiled, despite the tears that covered her face.

"Kasssumi... Would you like to... like to..."

The floor jumped up to meet her.

"Tali!" Something warm lifted her up, so she was sitting. "EDI, how much has she had?"

"She has consumed a considerable amount, but not enough for her suit's medical systems to alert Doctor Chakwas. She will likely become nauseous soon. I advise haste."

"Donshou talk to that thing!" she snapped. "Damned machine. Doeshn't know what it's talking about... With its perfect words... And pretty voice... Thinks it'ss better than me. That iss smarter than me. That it can casch me when I'm not expectin- OW!"

"Sorry, Tali. Had to give you an immunobooster. Is it empty, EDI?"

"Yes. I can keep it locked until you're ready to enter. The decontamination system is set to run after you're inside."

"Alright. Let's get you up, Tali"

The quarian didn't protest as she was pulled to her feet. The world began to list again until she felt the warm thing pull her close, guiding her forward. It felt familiar, comforting, but not quite right. "You should make yourself taller. Like as tall as John... John said I have a pretty voice."

Without warning, she burst into tears. The ground rocked as the world came to a stop, something cold keeping her up.

"Tali, it's going to be okay. Just calm down. Miranda! Can't you help me with her?"

"Dohnshoochrrussht her... Can't trust Cerberus. Never will. I know what they did... What they'd do... Only way anyone would... is if they didn't kno-" Her barely-coherent rant was cut off by a retch. She instinctively bent over, though she managed to keep the vomit down for the time being.

Then the cold was gone. The warm person hurriedly pulled her further along the path. Tali heard a door close.

"Decontamination in progress."

"Ohhh..." she moaned. "Why... airlock?"

"We're in the ladies' room, Tali. Nobody else is here."

"But... what ifff...shmmbody came in..."

"EDI's got the doors locked. She won't let anyone in unless one of us says so."

"Decontamination cycle complete."

"How much do you trust me, Tali?"

She felt herself being sat down on the floor. Her mind swam at the sudden altitude change. The quarian's stomach churned forebodingly, but she managed to reply.

"Trust... like Quala... like Shala... like John..." She huffed, the name begging to be repeated. "John..."

She could feel the tears coming again as another sob escaped her. Before Tali could completely give in, however, something lifted her head.

"Tali! I need to take off your mask. Do you trust me?"

Kasumi's imperious tone snapped her out of her weeping long enough to look at the thief's face. The quarian held back another heave as she nodded.

"Okay," her friend responded, her tone much gentler. "It's a bit bright in here, so you'll want to close your eyes."

Tali couldn't have kept them open if she'd wanted to. The act of nodding had sent the world spinning around her once again, and seeing double wasn't helping.

She heard a hiss.

An icy touch passed over her cheeks as the air on her face suddenly chilled. She heard a single word, soft enough to nearly be swatted away by the breath that birthed it.

"Wow..."

That was the last straw. The quarian began to throw up, barely keeping the wave of vomit from spilling out onto her friend. She felt herself being guided to one side, a splashing sound commencing as a warm hand began to rub her back.

"It's okay, Tali. Just let it out."

* * *

Miranda lingered after exiting the elevator on the crew deck, deep in thought.

_Why am I even considering it? This just isn't... NO!_ She reapplied her mask of conviction.

_I trust the Illusive Man's judgment. Jack isn't going to change my mind with her paranoia._

She nodded to herself, and began walking toward her quarters. Before the woman had made it halfway there, however, the door to Kasumi's room opened.

"You should make yourself taller. Like as tall as John..."

Kasumi walked out of her room, Tali draped over her shoulder. The thief was surprisingly stable, despite the much taller quarian leaning on her. Even so, Miranda could tell she was having issues carrying the woman.

_Never thought I'd see a drunk quarian._

As Kasumi soldiered on, Tali's eyes lingered somewhere between open and closed, the silver spots in her visor little more than slits. "John said I have a pretty voice."

The quarian began to wail, her screams rooting even Miranda to the spot. The thief leaned her against a wall and tried to soothe her friend.

"Tali, it's going to be okay. Just calm down." She caught the officer's eye. "Miranda! Can't you help me with her?"

_Might as well try and win back some of their goodwill._ Miranda stepped toward them, but the quarian waved an arm wildly before she had closed the distance.

"Dohnshoochrrussht her... Can't trust Cerberus. Never will. I know what they did... What they'd do... Only way anyone would... is if they didn't kno-"

Tali's words were cut off as she suddenly doubled over. The thief didn't wait for either of the other women as she suddenly drew on some new source of energy. Within five seconds, she had helped the quarian back to her feet and sped her off to the women's restroom without a backward glance.

Miranda, however, hadn't moved.

Jack, she had been prepared for. A biotic who had been kidnapped and tested on at a young age not trusting her was understandable. A drunk and nauseous quarian refusing help in getting to the bathroom because of her affiliation, however...

The woman shook her head, rushing into her quarters before she could run into anyone else.

_They have their motives, Miranda. But you have no reason to lose faith now._

_Right?_

She sat down behind her desk, her mind barely paying attention as she began composing a message to the Illusive Man. Her fingers worked on autopilot, a product of the many years of doing so for Cerberus.

_Right?_

A prompt on-screen stunned her out of her half-stupor.

**Failsafe 26-B activated.**  
**Attaching data from drive will wipe disk.**  
**Confirm? Y/N**

_It's for the greater good..._

**Confirm? Y/N**

_The Illusive Man wouldn't go back on me... On Ori._

**Confirm? Y/N**

_He wouldn't dare use Oriana against me... right?_

_Gavin Archer's face shifts into a look of surprise and agony as Kai Leng appears, impaling him. The assassin retracts his sword, then decapitates the scientist with a vicious coup de grace. His killer sheathes the blade, and the last words of their conversation echo through her mind as her eyes follow the rolling head._

_"He gave us everything he thought we'd need. There was no way we could fail."_

_"That's exactly my- Gah!"_

Miranda's fingers flew over the interface, then she buried her head in her hands. Only when the computer toned did she look up.

**Disk backup complete.**

* * *

_"She'll be most comfortable with you. I'd normally suggest having Shepard there too, but until she can face some of those issues, it wouldn't be wise. See if you can get her to open up on it, but don't press her too hard. It helps if you have a backup topic as well. Just keep her around, and keep her talking if you can. Oh, and I think it goes without saying that we shouldn't send her on a mission with a hangover."_

"Thanks for the pointers, Kelly. Can you update Shep?"

_"Of course, Kasumi. Happy to help."_

She closed the voice call and looked over at Tali. The quarian was asleep on the shower floor, her face once more hidden behind the visor. As soon as Kasumi was sure that there was nothing left for the quarian to regurgitate, she had replaced the mask for her inebriated friend.

_Don't want her to get even more sick than she's already going to be._

Tali began to stir as she finished the thought, a soft moan announcing her return to consciousness as she slowly sat up. "How much did I drink?"

Kasumi knelt down. "More than enough. Are you still nauseous?"

"No..." The quarian shook her head, but raised her hand to it and shut her eyes. "But I'm... everything else."

"I have more immunoboosters if you need them, Tali." She held out the individually-sealed syringes for the quarian.

The engineer pushed her hand back. "It's not that... It'll just take a couple of days for my system to get over the exposure now."

Her head turned toward the human, the glowing eyes within the helmet growing wide for a moment as she tensed up.

"You... You saw me... My face."

Silence settled crashed down between them as the thief's mind raced.

_Damn, what do I do? EDI warned me she might take it poorly. Oh God, she isn't going to think I was trying to-_

The quarian took a deep breath, her pose shifting as she spoke again. "I know you would have asked me first. And I know what I would have said." Tali relaxed, a smile in her posture. "I trust you because you're my hesh'nealan."

Confusion settled on Kasumi's features.

"You're not hitting on me are you?"

To her surprise, the quarian burst out laughing.

"Thanks, I needed that." When the human continued to give her a weird look, she chuckled again. "It means 'captain of my body'. We use it when we're talking about our closest and most trusted friends. It's kind of like how Garrus and John..."

Kasumi finished the thought for her as luminous eyes began to glaze over from behind the mask. "...Were separated at birth. I knew you and Quala were that close, but I didn't know you thought of me like that."

Tali nodded, coming back to earth. "Yes... You're not uncomfortable about it, are you?"

"Of course not," she replied with a smile. _Well Kelly was right about that._ "I'm honored, Tali'Zorah."

They settled into silence, the human sitting with her back to the wall next to her quarian friend. _How the hell am I supposed to bring it up?_

"I thought I was the only one who did that."

"What?" The human looked down, noticing she had been twiddling her thumbs. She gave a soft chuckle as she laid her hands in her lap. "I must have caught whatever you had when I took off that mask of yours."

"Bosh'tet," the quarian playfully replied, elbowing her arm. Their eyes met.

_Now or never, Kasumi..._

The thief blinked, then raised a hand to her friend's shoulder. "Tali... Why did you end up at the bar?"

To Kasumi's surprise, the quarian didn't stiffen. Instead, her shoulder sagged as she broke the gaze. "I... had a lot on my mind."

"About Shep?"

"About... me."

_Well that's not what I was expecting._ "Why's that?"

"I just..." The quarian sighed, giving a shake of her head. "Do you really think I deserve this?"

Kasumi was nonplussed. "To sit in a bathroom with one of your best friends talking things out?"

"No... I mean _this_. Being here on the ship with him. Knowing that he'd go out of his way to help me, even if I nearly killed him. Knowing that he still trusts me after all of that. Knowing that he..." the engineer took a deep breath and paused. When she spoke again, she sounded on the verge of tears.

"Knowing that he cares for me..."

"Tali, nobody blames you for what happened."

"...I do."

"Come on, you should be happy that he feels that way for you."

"I should be dead."

Words failed the human as the quarian choked out a sob. Before Tali could descend further into her grief, the woman embraced her in a tight hug. They stayed like that for several minutes, until she calmed down.

"Thanks Kasumi, I needed that." They broke apart, and the engineer looked around the room as if seeing it for the first time. "Keelah, how long has the door been locked?"

"Relax, Tali," Kasumi chuckled, glad to see her friend loosened up a little. "EDI would've told me if there was a line."

The quarian tilted her head. "Is there a line?"

The thief screwed up her face, making herself appear to be deep in thought.

"Kasumi..."

"Fine. Even though EDI promised to lock the door between people, there's one person outside who didn't want to risk the men's room."

"I should go down to engineering anyway."

Kasumi grabbed her shoulder. "I can't let you leave."

"Why not?"

"Three reasons: One, I'm making you take a sick day. Chakwas, Kelly, and EDI can all back me up on that one. And before you ask, yes. I DO think you've been working too hard lately."

The quarian shook her head and grumbled. Her words were too soft for the human's translator to detangle the string of Khelish, so she continued as if she hadn't heard.

"Second, you still need to tell me that story from your mother's knife. You keep finding excuses not to."

Tali turned to look at the thief, her shoulder relaxing a little. "I can definitely think of worse ways to spend a day of forced medical leave. But we can do that in your room."

"Which brings me to my third reason."

"Which is?"

Kasumi pointed to the door and muttered, "It's Miranda."

The quarian stopped resisting altogether, settling back down next to her.

"You're right. She can wait."

They shared a laugh at the officer's expense, then Kasumi cleared her throat.

"So at the risk of being interrupted by another dangerous mission that could very well be a trap, can we start?"

"Yes. The Legend of Tas'Nerah..."

* * *

Long ago,

Before we left the Homeworld,

Before we made our first steps into the stars,

Before we had advanced weapons,

Before we even began to tinker with electricity,

There was the Famine.

It lasted for years, longer than any drought even the oldest of elders could remember. Crops began to fail, and even the tafaya grasses wer-

**Sorry, but I have to put on the brakes. "Tafaya"? What's that?**

Kasumi, do you want to hear the story or not?

**Just a human asking for context.**

Sorry... John's usually more subtle about that sort of thing. It's a protein-rich plant that's easy to grow. It's the main ingredient in most kinds of nutrient paste.

**That wasn't so hard now was it?**

Anyway...

Even the hardy tafaya crops were dying out. This worried the great King Kal'Vonni of Neema.

**Wait, Neema?**

Yes, Neema. We named some of our ships after cities on the homeworld.

**And King Kal?**

How many humans are named after that one human hero... the one with the sword and the boulder... Arfer or something?

**"Arthur." And good point.**

The city of Neema had been at peace for over a generation, thanks to a treaty between them and the nation of Idenna. The two had been bitter enemies once, going to war the last time a great drought had strained their resources. They had eventually negotiated, and the powerful Idennan armies agreed not to attack the Neemans and their farmland so long as they paid tribute to their capital city, Moreh.

Kal didn't like the treaty, but it kept the Idennans at bay for many quarian years. But as the Famine drew on, he found the situation more and more dire. Between it and the tribute, there was less and less food to be found.

He knew his people would soon starve if things kept going like they were.

He turned to his most trusted advisor, the famed navigator and explorer Tas'Nerah, for help. He knew the constellations better than anyone else.

And they say he had dashingly good looks, too.

**Hold the phone. I love a good "handsome hero" as much as the next girl, but he isn't going to be a Gary Stu is he?**

A what?

**"Gary Stu"? Larger-than-life infallible hero without flaws? Nothing can stop him? Channels the spirit of Chuck Norris? Big muscles and probably good in bed to boot?**

...

...

..._Should_ he be one?

**...**

**Forget I asked.**

Right, but he wasn't the best at everything, Kasumi...

He insisted on training with the captain of the king's guard in the arts of combat, even though he rarely showed signs of improvement. Captain Alarei'Yunna never lost to him. Tas always left with some new injury whenever he fought with her: bruises, cuts, sometimes a broken bone or two. Even so, he persisted with his physical training. She never referred to him by name after their fights though; he was always "the broken one" to her.

Every time he challenged her, she would always ask him the same thing:

"Are you ready to lose again, Bosh'tet?"

**Sounds a bit harsh, don't ya think?**

Oh, but that wasn't even half of it: he was secretly in love with her, but she knew it all along.

**What?**

He only asked to train with her because he adored seeing her grace and beauty unhindered. And it was the only time she would ever look at him without making faces.

That particular day, she had been gone when he called on her for their sparring match. And so, he happened to come to King Kal's castle right as he was being requested.

"Tas, my hesh'nealan," the king said. "We face a crisis unlike any other. I fear that this Famine will be the end of Neema. We will not be able to uphold the treaty with Idenna for much longer."

"But Sire, how will we survive? We cannot hope to last for long in open war with them."

"That is true. And it is why you must go to the south. You must find us a place to start anew, and hopefully the Idennans won't follow us there."

"Sire," he argued, "there is nothing south of here. Only Idenna and the great ocean lie beyond our borders that way."

"You forget. There is one thing that could protect us. Even the Idennans wouldn't be able to reach us there."

...

"You don't mean-"

"But I do."

...

...

...

**What is it, already?**

...

...

...

**Tali...**

What are you looking at me like that for? Mother always told it this way.

**I want to know!**

Okay... If you insist.

The king was talking about a mythical place. A land far to the south, where none had gone in centuries.

Tales were told in hushed voices about how it would rain there for hours.

Sometimes even DAYS on end.

It was a place protected by cliffs, nearly impassible by sea unless you knew the way.

They say it was perfect, sheltered from Tikkun's hottest summers, and that you could grow anything there.

And they called it...

...

...

**TALI!**

The Walled Garden.

* * *

_"It appears you could have benefitted from Tali'Zorah's help."_

"Don't need the goddamn reminder!"

Shepard squinted through the dust cloud and ignored the conversation going on between Thane and Zaeed. Here and there, he could barely see the telltale "flashlights" of the geth squad they were engaging. Apart from that, the only visible sign of his enemies was the occasional tracer round fired from their assault rifles. He fired at the nearest one, taking it down with his SMG before going back into cover.

The truth was, Thane was right.

Even from the drell's spotting post in the shuttle, far above and out of the combat zone, the mysterious weather device the squad was pressing toward was bound to create hell for visibility. (_Figures. EDI said they're using reaper tech._) Even if it wasn't for the occasional geth hunter appearing suddenly in their midst, the enemy squads were still a serious threat. Thermal, sonar and IR weren't doing squat to cut through the swirling sand that obscured their vision. A combat drone or a hacked enemy, however...

_"Rocket!"_

He ducked away from the projectile, quietly thanking Thane. "Where from?"

_"Twenty-one meters northwest of your position, behind a cliff face on the left."_

"He's mine," the krogan behind him bellowed with a charge forward. The Spectre lost track of Grunt's huge form, but he could easily hear the crunch of metal in the distance. "Weak!"

_"Two troopers coming down the canyon, thirty meters west. They're out in the open."_

"Form up and follow me!"

Grunt and Zaeed followed John's order, covering his back as he rushed to meet the two synthetics. He took them out with a Shockwave as soon as their optics were visible, allowing a brief respite as they continued upward and out of the canyon.

_"The objective is just under a hundred twenty meters southwest. There are several geth waiting in ambush, including what appears to be a prime."_

_Damn,_ Shepard thought as he signaled for the others to hold position. "How many others?"

_"I count four standard platforms and a destroyer."_

He wished for what felt like the tenth time that Tali was there with him.

However, the voice of his "personal correspondence assistant" and resident psychologist rattled through his head, chastising him for his thoughts. _"Don't force her out until she's comfortable with it. Poor girl's got enough on her plate recovering from her hangover."_

He shook his head, fully aware that the quarian was likely recovering from more than the turian drinks she'd consumed the previous night. _At least I know what's bothering her now. Maybe when things quiet down a bit-_

He ducked as a geth hunter flashed into being right in front of him. The human reflexively Charged, stunning it as the synthetic's weapon discharged overhead.

_But for now, I have to keep fighting._

* * *

As soon as the sun had set, Tas set off with a small group of guards on his quest. Among them was his brother, a skilled archer named Firn'Nerah who could see the spots on a dhelka from nearly a full wevat awa-

**You lost me there.**

Um... He had really good eyesight.

**Ah. So "eyes like a hawk"?**

What's a hawk?

**I'm so glad we could come to a mutual misunderstanding.**

*Laughs* Where was I?

**Firn had good eyesight.**

Ah, yes...

While Tas kept his eyes on the skies, it was Firn who kept a look out on the land around them. The group trusted him as a spotter to keep them safe just as they trusted Tas to keep them from getting lost.

And it was a good thing they were both there.

There was many an occasion where Firn had to convince Tas to change course. As they marched deeper into Idennan territory, they came across an alarming amount of patrols. Though even more startling was that the Idennans were already gearing up for war.

Firn urged Tas to turn back. "If we don't warn Kal, Neema will be decimated!"

But Tas was adamant; he believed in the words the king had told him. "We must keep going, Firn. Finding the garden is the only chance we have of Neema surviving."

And so, they pressed on. With Tas's guidance, they managed to skirt around the fortresses of Idenna. However, they could hear a shrill disturbance in the wind whenever they came close to the towns. It was as if despair had given itself a voice, to be swept over the land nearby. Though Tas was curious about what was making the sound, he didn't dare to lead the group into any of Idenna's satellite villages.

But the navigator couldn't keep his curiosity at bay forever. Both he and Firn could see a trail of smoke drifting over a hill on their path, far from the nearest town.

Firn wanted to avoid it at all costs. "It's bound to be the Idennans. Who knows what they're doing over there?"

But Tas would hear none of it. "There could be innocents in danger. I must know what's happening."

**Stubborn, but cares about everyone else more than himself... Remind you of someone?**

...

...

Garrus is worse.

**Ha! To you maybe... He's not who I meant though.**

I don't know who you're talking about...

**...Mm-hmm...**

Anyway...

Firn grudgingly followed his brother as they snuck up the side of the hill. They drew their weapons with caution as they neared the top.

"Be prepared for anything," Tas said.

When they finally reached the crest of the hill, however, he found the last thing he'd expected to see waiting for him.

* * *

_It took them long enough._

Miranda walked out of the men's room after her much-belated shower to find that the women's restroom's interface was finally green. The woman shook her head in annoyance as she walked back to her quarters.

_How much did Tali drink, anyway?_

She tried to focus on that question, but found the thought driven out by the the thing that had been eating into her for the past thirteen hours. It didn't help that the message she'd received before emerging from her quarters was still on the computer screen when she entered.

_From: Cerberus Command_

_We received the data you found on the Eclipse base. While the death of operative Tyrone Rawlings was regrettable, he died to keep this information out of the hands of those who would do Cerberus harm._

_By retrieving this data, you have ensured that his death was not in vain._

_While the subject of the data is known, the contents of the intel are not. We are decrypting the data to find out the nature of the erroneous information being spread about Cerberus. Thanks to you, we can safeguard our already fragile reputation._

_Well done!_

The message, sent by some nameless correspondent, had been driving her stir-craving-mad.

It wasn't just the question of "erroneous information" or how they knew the data was destined for someone outside the organization. It wasn't the nagging thoughts that surfaced when she read two of the last four words in the message.

It was the bullshit claim about decrypting the data.

Using the ciphers at her disposal with her Lazarus clearance, Miranda had easily found the correct one to decrypt her copy. Within ten minutes, the data was decrypted on her computer, locked behind an authorization dialogue similar to the one she had cleared in the communications HQ on Aite.

The notion that someone at the Illusive Man's side would be responsible for decrypting the data, but not have the correct cipher, was beyond ridiculous.

More ridiculous, however, was that she had typed in her own authorization passcode.

All it needed was for her to press the "Enter" key.

And it had been waiting all day.

Miranda frowned as she sat at the desk, the questions eating at her again as if she had never left the room to eat and bathe.

_What did Archer mean, exactly?_ Her features scrunched up as the possible answer reared its head once more.

_You're allowed to function only because you're useful._

"He wouldn't betray me and Ori," she whispered. "I won't go against him when I'll just be proven right."

The words rang hollow in her own ears. She laid her head down on the desk, trying to sort her thoughts out.

_What if you're wrong? What if the Illusive Man doesn't really care for you and Oriana?_

The question lingered.

Miranda's head rose once more, the operative shaking her head in disgust as she tried to brush the question aside.

_He probably didn't even give you clearance anyway. For all you know, it'll just lock down and delete itself._

She minimized the Cerberus message, the password prompt now claiming all of the screen's real estate.

_She sees the child and makes a promise. Unheard, unasked, but unbreakable._

For the first time in years, Miranda Lawson felt something she'd trained herself never to feel. For her sake, and for Oriana's.

She was afraid.

"Damn it."

She hit the "Enter" key.

A series of folders took over the real estate on her computer's screen: projects, contacts, funders, suppliers, operatives... All of it was alphabetized. However, one folder near the front of the queue immediately drew her attention.

_Archer, Gavin_

Now that the original sin had been committed, curiosity began to overwhelm her. Her mind demanded answers for what the doctor had said, and her clicking finger was all too happy to oblige. She soon found herself looking at a dossier for the late scientist, not dissimilar to the ones she had on Shepard's team.

_Operative: Gavin Archer_

_Location: Aite_

_MO: Brilliant and well-versed technician. Unconventional thinking useful for research, but makes him naturally paranoid of retribution. Curiosity and freedom in work currently outweigh possible issues that come from paranoia. Presence of brother David a stabilizing element. Devotion to cause makes him willing to ignore ethical issues faced in projects._

_Status: Deceased. Contingency carried out. **[Link: Project Overlord]**_

_Contingency: Unstable in long-term, certain to overstep bounds or scope of project. Assassinate once this occurs, retrieve relevant data for replacement._

"They... expected him to fail?"

_That's exactly my point._

The thought, delivered in the scientist's voice, left her silent for several minutes.

She was afraid.

_Do they expect me to fail?_

No, she was always successful. The Illusive Man always gave her what she needed to finish the job, always trusted her to make the decisions that needed to be made.

_But what if I fail?_

She was afraid.

Miranda searched through the folders, finding a file on herself.

_Operative: Miranda Lawson_

_Location: Normandy SR-2_

_MO: Proven and reliable asset. Dedicates self solely to any task given; known for analytical approach to problem-solving and rarely gives in to emotional pressure. Jack-of-all trades, with considerable biotic and tech skills. Skilled with all standard weapons, but prefers to use pistol and submachine gun loadouts. Possesses respectable hand-to-hand skills for close quarters, but specifically requested exclusion from wet work operations. Will continue to do so in order to preserve allegiance. Genius-level IQ and logistic skills also prove useful in non-combat roles. Can be trusted to follow orders without question as long as Asset Echo is secure. Behavioral modeling suggests long-term loyalty may be in question. Status to be reevaluated following completion of Project Lazarus duties (Refer to contingency)._

_Status: Active. **[Link: Project Lazarus]**_

_Contingency: [Redacted, authorization only given to the Illusive Man]_

"No... He wouldn't..."

She exited the file, frantically searching for a particular one.

_Asset Echo_

_Name: Oriana Lawson [Cover surname not listed]_

_Location: Illium_

_MO: [Redacted, authorization only given to the Illusive Man]_

_Status: Secure. To be reevaluated following completion of other projects (Refer to contingency)._

_Contingency: [Redacted, authorization only given to the Illusive Man]_

"'To be reevaluated...' Why?"

_In case you fail._

"Why can't you tell me?!"

A hand crashed down in frustration, passing straight through the holographic interface. Miranda was acutely aware that it glowed a soft blue, her breathing pattern deviating significantly from its normal, quiet pace.

She was _very_ afraid.

* * *

**So what did they see?**

Not what, but _who_.

**Hmm?**

At the top of the hill, there was a battle going on. A supply wagon for the Idennan army was burning, and its guards had slain all but one of their assailants. The last attacker danced through the group's blades, deflecting and countering all of the escort's moves with ease. However, the squad was pressing down on the area, flanking and trapping the intruder in a circle of unfriendly spears.

It was only a matter of time before the person would be killed.

**So who was it?**

The only one among Kal's forces who could have hoped to hold out on her own against such an overwhelming force: Captain Alarei'Yunna, herself. When he recognized her, Tas immediately began to rise.

His brother, however, held him back.

"What are you thinking?" Firn demanded. "We don't have enough people to take them all on, Tas. You'll be killed."

The brother smiled back. "She needs our help now, Firn. There's no time to think about it."

He then charged toward the mob, his sword raised. Luckily, the enemy warriors were too focused on Alarei to see him before he made his first kills. Before long, however, he found himself being overwhelmed as the soldiers started to engage him. A few of them fell before he could hit them, victims of Firn's marksmanship with the bow or falling to Alarei's expert swordsmanship. But he collected a significant amount of wounds in the process. Though the enemy's numbers were quickly thinning, he was being overwhelmed by the sheer number of opponents throwing themselves at him.

And then he did the worst thing possible during a swordfight.

**What?**

He tripped.

**No...**

Yes, he did. Slipped and fell right on his back in the middle of the fight.

A pair of soldiers stood over him, laughing as they raised their swords to deliver the killing blow. Tas closed his eyes and waited.

...

...

...and waited...

...

...

...and waited...

**Did they stab him or not?!**

The attack never came.

He heard a pair of thumps and looked around. The two had been slain from behind, massive slash marks on their backs. In their place stood a single person, who was busy cleaning off a sword.

"That's not how you're supposed to rescue someone, Bosh'tet."

Tas took care as he climbed back to his feet, trying to ignore the many bruises on his body under his dented armor. "It made sense at the time."

"No, you were just a diversion," she said back.

"But you would have died."

She just rolled her eyes at him and laughed. "Fine, you were a welcome diversion. You're lucky they were even worse fighters than yourself though. I didn't know that many even existed."

**Ouch. I could feel the heat from that one.**

What heat?

**Don't mind me. Human talking too much, remember?**

You're incorrigible, Kasumi.

**Hey! I actually DO know the meaning of that one, so don't even try the grandiloquence game with me.**

What?

**Exactly. Back to the story?**

Right.

Tas ignored her words and tried (poorly) to keep his eyes on hers. "We could use your help, Alarei. Kal needs us to find something that could keep Neema alive through this Famine, far beyond Idenna's borders. I know you had a mission, but this could end our people's troubles once and for all."

She pondered his question for a few moments, but quickly gave an answer. "Sure. Sabotaging their supply lines without backup isn't going to work. That and someone needs to protect you from yourself."

They stopped talking as Firn came up the hill with the other soldiers, bearing bad news. Tas and him hadn't been the only ones to see the smoke from the burning wagons. A large group of Idennan soldiers had rushed toward the hill from the opposite side. During the fight, they had completely surrounded the hill, and were slowly closing in on them. An emissary from the battallion marched ahead, walking straight toward the trio and their own soldiers. Alarei whispered into Tas's ear, "Worst. Rescue. Ever."

The messenger began to speak. "By the order of Lord Murin'Fal of Idenna, you are to surrender yourselves or perish. You have one minute to comply."

"Of all time," Alarei added.

"We have to obey them, Alarei," Firn said. "There's no chance we could get out of this."

"Surely you can't be-"

Tas interrupted her with a sad look. "He's right. But there is something I can do." He stepped forward, addressing the emissary. "Do I have your word that we will not be harmed?"

"Yes," the man replied.

"Then we surrender."

The messenger nodded and placed them all in irons. He then turned to one of the Idennan soldiers, a sickening grin on his face. "Take these three. Kill the rest."

**That dirty bastard...**

That's what Alarei said. But the man just laughed at the insult.

"He didn't specify who 'we' referred to."

* * *

_Two years..._

He trudged through the snow, seeing jagged shards of metal jutting out at irregular intervals. Some of it, he could recognize.

The rest, he had to force himself not to think about. Dwelling on what had happened only made him want to retch, visions of what must have happened to twist them beyond recognition playing through his mind.

_It really has been two years..._

Another blast of icy wind caused him to duck his head. He held his hand in front of him as the air around him turned white.

Still, he marched on.

Something shimmered on the ground in front of him, a spot of blue in the middle of the white-out.

He bent over, retrieving a small plate of metal on a chain.

_Lieutenant Charles Donald Pressly_  
_Executive Officer, Navigator, SSV Normandy_  
_Earth Systems Alliance Navy_  
_Service Number 052943-2167-1469-002634_

The wind began to die down, allowing him to take a better look at his surroundings. He was eerily aware of how the last time he had seen that part of the CIC, he had been floating out through its ceiling. He passed the chain of the dogtag to his opposite hand, allowing it to hang from his fist with several of its brethren.

He pushed onward.

A spot of dark gray and red caught his attention. He made his way over to the object, scooping it up with his free hand. He pocketed the dogtags, then wiped the excess frost and snow off of the thing.

There it was.

The surface was just like he'd remembered it.

A scorch mark here from fighting geth outside on Noveria.

The dent from the hit he'd taken from a batarian terrorist on an asteroid over Terra Nova.

The scratch from his first husk encounter on Eden Prime.

He turned it over in his hands, searching along the neckline. There, right on the back, were a series of letters written in blood-red.

_J. Shepard_

There had been simply been no time before.

Freedom's Progress? He was too busy being relieved for those who had escaped.

After Omega? He had devoted himself fully to his new task, gathering people to his cause.

Horizon? Haestrom? He was too busy just surviving to give a passing thought.

Since Pragia? He had been worrying about Cerberus stabbing him in the back.

Only there did he stop.

He fell to his knees, his head bowing in respect over the battered helmet as he finally began to cope with what had happened two years before.

_I really died here._

Only there, amidst the wreckage on Alchera, did John Shepard stop to mourn.

For the Normandy SR-1.

For his old crew.

For Pressly.

For his life before Cerberus.

For himself.

* * *

And so, it was with a grim heart that Tas marched down the hill with the messenger, Firn, and Alarei. The woman fought her captors every step of the way, earning only a series of blows which the leader pointedly ignored. However, when Tas tried to intervene, the emissary made a point to strike him himself. The Idennan soldiers allowed them no rest, taking the trio all the way to the Idennan capital, Moreh.

The outskirts of Moreh were in shambles. Buildings were in disrepair. The sun-baked earth was unyielding to their footsteps, harder than the most skillfully-forged of blades. Even in the middle of the night, the intense heat made them feel as if they were being cooked alive.

**Sounds like Tuchanka.**

Kasumi...

**Listening.**

The people there looked even worse. While Tas had seen the pressures that the Famine had put on the people of Neema, the quarians of idenna were in a sad state. Most of them were absolutely skeletal. A few attempted to nurse their long-since dead crops. The rest sat in their squalor, hopeless.

The only ones that werent were the soldiers.

The messenger and his escorts brought them to the gates of a castle. A single person, his powerful features appearing chiseled out of stone, rushed out to meet him. "Where are the rest of their group?" the man demanded.

"Executed for their crimes against the Lord," the emissary answered. "They were not worth the water in their filthy Neeman blood."

As soon as he had finished speaking, the newcomer took the messenger's sword and stabbed him with it. "Your wastefulness is not tolerated. Take him to the fields."

Two of the escorts dragged the dying quarian away as the man approached Tas. "I apologize for his behavior," he said. "He should have brought all of your people here, if only so we could know the names of those whose blood would keep our crops alive for another day. I am Draam'Gurta, heir to the lord's throne." He looked over the three with a careful eye. "At least he kept you three alive. It would be a shame if he had executed the captain of Vonni's guard and the brother of his most trusted advisor. Speaking of whom, Lord Murin'Fal wishes to... discuss... the matters of your quest, Tas'Nerah."

Tas felt that Draam knew more than what he was letting on. "And what do you know of our quest, pray tell?"

The man shook his head and whispered back. "Not in front of the others."

But Tas wouldn't accept his answer. "Firn and Alarei deserve to know what your... intentions are."

"I didn't mean them," Draam whispered. "I meant the soldiers."

Draam signaled to the soldiers to stay put and waved the three of them through the doorway.

The inside of the castle was as different as could be from the scene outside.

The long entrance hall was fully adorned with rich tapestries. Artworks of the sort not done since the Geth Uprising lined the walls like rivets in a liveship's hull. Open trays of fresh fruit stood next to the door, within easy access of those privileged enough to pass through it.

Everything spoke of excess.

Tas was quick to voice his disgust. "How can you treat yourselves so well when your people are dying out there, _heir_? At least in Neema we are all suffering equally. This... is just-"

Draam cut him off with a glare that burned with the ferocity of Tikkun.

"It's a necessary evil."

* * *

_Contingency: If suspicions regarding espionage by Shadow Broker are confirmed, reveal involvement in Binthu experiments and death of Loam Geero **[Link: Project Discovery]** to Morl Geero of Eclipse. Geero likely to capture and execute Rawlings. Send in cleanup squad to kill Geero and recover data being sold to Shadow Broker._

Miranda rubbed her eyes as she closed Rawlings' dossier. She had spent most of the day since accessing the data searching through the files on the disk. She had been hoping against hope to find exceptions to the Illusive Man's contingencies. Something that would prove to herself, once and for all, that he would never harm Oriana. Instead, she had seen the same themes repeating ad infinitum.

Coercion.

Assassination.

Defamation.

Blackmail.

Every contact, every project, every operative had their own contingency plan. All of them revolved around one thing: a ruthless drive to leave no loose ends. Try as she might, Miranda had been having difficulty finding that proof she desperately wanted. Out of the hundreds of files she had gone through so far, she had succeeded in finding two exceptions.

Just two.

One of them, Kai Leng, she understood implicitly. The man was fanatical and antagonistic toward nonhuman interests long before he had been booted from the Alliance and recruited by Cerberus. If anything, he relished his immersion in the organization's dark side; no payment was worth more to him than to keep killing those who stood in humanity's way.

He would never go against the Illusive Man.

The other was an enigma, only named by their species.

She took a sip of coffee from her long-since-cooled mug as she reopened the relevant profile.

_Contact: "The Quarian" [Name not listed]_

_Location: Migrant Fleet, ship not known_

_MO: Scientist well-versed in AI research and experimental weapons technologies. Possessed considerable political pull within quarian leadership. Obsessed with continued security of the quarian species. Willing to provide research and data in exchange for tech and supplies benefitting Migrant Fleet. Calculating, patient. Never operates without a long-term agenda. True identity given only to Illusive Man._

_Status: Unknown. Ceased direct contact following failed attack on Idenna. **[Link: Project Rapture]**_

_Contingency: No current plans. Insufficient influence within fleet to enact proper fallback without first isolating from quarian protection. Blackmail unlikely to succeed, as Admiralty Board could be convinced of forgery. Can cut off contact if necessary, but agreeable as long as quarian society as a whole can benefit from cooperation._

Miranda could glean nothing new from the profile. She closed it, then laid her head down on the desk.

"Would he really use her against me?" she mumbled.

_Yes._

The woman couldn't deny it; the Illusive Man could turn on her the second she showed any sort of doubts. And if he did...

"Ori might never be safe."

_I need an out, my own plan in case they ever decide to move against her._

Miranda nodded as she sat up, her fear dissipating somewhat. She still wasn't sure what exactly what the Illusive Man would do, but she could plan for the worst. The operative nodded as she contemplated her options. She had a goal now, an objective. It would take time, yes, but she still had an opportunity to do something about it.

_For now though..._

She navigated to another profile. The screen filled with text once more, along with a photo of a familiar face in one corner.

_Operative: Jacob Taylor_

_Location: Normandy SR-2_

_MO: Ex-corsair disillusioned with Alliance politics following the Battle of the Citadel. Assisted in rescue of Citadel Council following assassination attempt by batarian ambassador Jath'Amon. Battle-proven soldier, cool under fire and competent at defensive biotic techniques. Candidate for future fire team leadership, if motives can be manipulated into better alignment with Cerberus intentions._

_Status: Active. **[Link: Project Lazarus]**_

_Contingency: Expected to defect following completion of Lazarus Project objectives. If so, eliminate at earliest convenience. Can reveal links to Cerberus if necessary for posthumous defamation. Personal connections with operatives in other cells and former Alliance squadmates tenuous at best, with possible exceptions of Doctor Brynn Cole and Miranda Lawson._

_Note - Recent discovery of MSV Hugo Gernsback distress beacon may be used as leverage; father Ronald Taylor was listed among crew. **[Link: Distress call, 2175 Aeia coordinates]**_

Miranda opened the link, forwarding the data using her own anonymous line that bypassed Cerberus' surveillance. Her sister was her main concern, of that there was no doubt.

But in the meantime, she could still help an old friend.

* * *

Draam took the three of them deep into the castle, to a darkened room. The cavernous area was lit only by a series of small lanterns, set on a table that stretched across the _whole_ room. By their light, a large assortment of foods was visible, worthy of a feast. At the opposite end of the table was a massive chair.

And on that chair sat the largest quarian Tas had ever seen.

He had been shapely once, what muscle was left made that much clear. Far more evident, however, were the grotesque signs of his...

_...Excess..._

They walked down the length of the table, stopping when the figure held up a hand. The quarian then addressed the group with a raspy voice that somehow managed to fill the room.

*Ahem*

_"I am Murin'Fal, Lord of Castle Moreh and ruler of all Idenna."_

**Wouldn't have expected you to pull off a "creepy, sinister dude" voice.**

My mother was better at it, but thanks Kasumi.

Anyway...

_"So how do you feel about my great city, Tas? Surely, Kal'Vonni's advisor must have an opinion by now."_

"I feel it has been rotted to the core if this is how a leader lives among his people," he answered.

_**"HA!** Typical of an idealist such as yourself. But sometimes sacrifices must be made... for the good of the people. Firn, you can understand when I say that the leadership must remain strong in hard times such as these, brought by this horrible Famine."_

But before Tas's brother could do so much as a grunt, Alarei cut in. "Your people will not be happy when they find out how you're hoarding all of this from them. I bet they'd be furious enough to risk fighting your guards if word got out."

_"I suggest you drop your charade, Alarei. I was aware from the moment you walked in that you'd already broken your restraints. Even if you could triumph against Draam here, which you might be able to accomplish if you were armed, the guards outside of this castle will attack anyone who leaves that isn't in chains or in Idennan royal garb..._

_"...Which I could provide for you."_

Tas was surprised by the offer, but decided to ask the question anyway. "Why would you do so?"

_"Because of a legend. One that tells of a place beyond the sea, shielded by walls of stone. They say the ancestors discovered it long ago, but its location was lost when a nearby island erupted into a flash of fire and sound and darkness, so great that the sun didn't rise for weeks afterward. Without the island as a landmark, none have been able to find it since. But it is said that the place survived the flash, persevering as a site of perfection, untouched for centuries and full of natural riches just waiting to be discovered. 'Rannoch f'Traeln' it was called in an ancient tongue._

_"I want the same thing you want, Tas'Nerah: to find this 'Walled Garden of the Ancients'."_

**What? How did he know?!**

You should stop stealing Alarei's lines.

But... _"I have my ways. You didn't think I wouldn't have had spies in high places now, did you?"_

**Now that just sounds like a lazy, but convenient plot device. There's no explanation there at all!**

Tell you what, next time you're telling me a culturally-significant human legend, you can throw in as many 'convenient plot devices' as you want. Deal?

**Alright, I get it. So what happened next?**

*Hahum* _"I would give you what you need to reach Rannoch f'Traeln: supplies, a ship, and a crew. Officially, they would be under the direct supervision of my heir, Draam. They will follow your orders so long as it leads the Idennan people to this place."_

Tas was hesitant to accept the offer. "You mean for yourself and your soldiers."

_"It matters not. If I had access to Rannoch, Idenna would have all it needed to survive the rest of this Famine, and Neema would have no need to uphold their end of the treaty ever again. As you can see, this benefits both our cities. I believe that this... arrangement... would be fair for all involved."_

"We should do it, Tas," his brother whispered. "I see no other way to get out of this, and it does solve our food problems."

Alarei disagreed. "No, we shouldn't betray Neema. If we're lucky, we can get most of the city there without Murin."

Tas hushed them both with a few quick words. "I hate to say it, but we can't ignore this. We're dead if we leave this room without his help, and doing so will only guarantee an attack on Neema. This way, we still have time to find a way out."

"I hope you're right, Bosh'tet," Alarei whispered back.

* * *

_So, a deal with the devil..._

Kasumi stretched her legs over the couch and put a hand on Tali's shoulder. "I think that's enough for today. I don't want to end up falling asleep on you."

The quarian paused midsentence. "It's okay. I think Mother drew out the part between Moreh and reaching the ocean because she _wanted_ me to fall asleep." She had a genuine smile in her eyes as she turned to the thief. "I'll admit, I was starting to wonder why you weren't interrupting me as much."

They chuckled at her words, then, "I'll make sure you skip to the beach for next time then. But in the meantime, I wanted to ask you about what you said earlier. About why you thought you should be..." Kasumi searched for a delicate way to put it into words.

"Why I should be dead."

Kasumi immediately regretted speaking as she watched the smile fade from Tali's eyes. To her credit, the engineer didn't break down completely like she had in the bathroom earlier.

"I'm sorry, it's... a quarian thing. I don't want to talk about it right now, but I appreciate you asking." Her eyes glowed as she finished, but not nearly as brightly as they had seconds before. As she rose, a hologram of EDI popped up by the door.

"Miss Zorah, a quarian distress signal labeled 'extremely urgent' has been detected on the planet Gei Hinnon. Shepard is composing a team to investigate. He would like to know if you wish to be on the ground team."

Tali looked back at Kasumi, as if looking for a sort of confirmation. _Of course! I DID tell her she was on forced medical leave._

The human nodded. "Only if you really want to."

"Tell John..." She stopped, but regained her composure after a second. "Tell him I'll be right there. I just want to talk to Chakwas first."

"Of course. Logging you out."

The thief raised an eyebrow. "Why do you want to talk to the doc, by the way?"

"I need to thank her for telling you what to do." She nodded to the human as she began to walk out. "You may be a professional thief, but I know you would've had trouble finding the safe injection sites on my sh'rayan without help."

"Um, Tali... It wasn't Chakwas who told me."

The quarian tilted her head. "Who was it, then?"

_Here goes... _"It was EDI."

"WHAT?!"

_Okay, damage control mode: Go._ "EDI told me that you had been at the bar and needed help, so-"

**"SHOW YOURSELF YOU DAMNED AI PIECE OF HYELON!"**

"Tali..."

EDI's avatar came online. "Would you like to send a message to Ch-"

"STAY THE HELL OUT OF MY SUIT YOU HORRIBLE EXCUSE FOR A COMPUTER VIRUS!" She stabbed her finger through the holographic orb as she continued to rant.

"Tali."

"-YOU PILE OF CIRCUITS! IF I SO MUCH AS THINK THAT YOU'RE-"

**"TALI!"**

The human buckled under the elephantine weight of the stare that the engineer threw her in response. "Keelah, you know how seriously quarians take this sort of thing, Kasumi. You _know_ how much I had to trust you just to let you see my face when I was ill. The last time anyone saw my face, I was at my mother's side while she was on her deathbed. Now you're defending an AI that hacked its way into my suit's systems? I can't beli-"

"I did not interface with your suit in any way, Miss Zorah."

"And now it's lying."

"Cerberus installed blocks that prevent me from knowingly giving false information. I merely used Zaeed's personal surveillance network and the camera built into this holographic interface to monitor your alcohol consumption, since they were the only devices that survived your and Mordin's purge."

"Then why didn't Chakwas come? She should have been paged automatically if I was drinking too much." She turned back to the console, and Kasumi felt it was safe to breathe again.

"That is not entirely correct. Her alert is set to trigger in the event of dangerously high blood alcohol content. The amount you drank was not enough to cause alcohol toxicity. Visual data indicated an imminent onset of nausea and that you would need assistance to reach somewhere that was safe to remove your mask."

Tali's voice became softer; muted, but still accusatory. "Why didn't you tell me to stop then? It would've saved everyone a lot of trouble."

"I did. You attempted to overload this interface during my fourth message. The attack missed and hit the door controls."

_So that's why it was locked when I got here!_

"After your attempt to sabotage the interface, I contacted Miss Goto, believing you would prefer her presence over that of Doctor Chakwas. The shuttle happened to be docking when she received my message. I considered the circumstances fortunate, and briefed her on the proper procedures and precautions."

"Oh..."

Seeing Tali begin to relax, Kasumi decided to try moving closer. The quarian continued to stare at EDI's projection as the thief put a hand on her shoulder. The engineer's hand slipped out without warning, grasping the thief's other hand with a firm, but gentle grip before releasing her.

Kasumi let out a sigh of relief. _At least I won't be getting a visit from her shotgun._

Tali continued to stare at the hologram for a few more tense seconds before looking away. "Tell John I'm on my way down to the hangar bay."

"Done. Logging you out."

Kasumi gave her a final hug. "Remember, Tali. I'm here if you need me."

Apart from returning it, the quarian barely acknowledged her. The visor was dark, as if a massive storm had shrouded what few details of her face could be seen from view. The human walked to the bed, and heard a faint whoosh as the door opened and closed behind her.

But she could've sworn she heard something else as well: a soft whisper that her translator didn't catch, quieter than the sound of the portal.

_"Eedie... ralm w'telan."_

As she felt herself succumbing to her fatigue from staying awake nearly two full days for Tali, the thief opened up her omni-tool. She typed in the phrase, and got an immediate hit over the extranet. Kasumi barely had time to read the first result before her eyes slid shut.

**Khelish-English translation: "Thank you, Eedie."**

* * *

**Note from the author:  
I wanted to give a quick shout-out to timbryanscott, to thank him for pointing something out about my story description that may have kept some people from giving this story a go earlier. (I wholeheartedly agree with you on the "oh God why?!" thought, despite Rule 34.)**

**Freaky factoid number 27-D:**  
**"Burning In the Skies" by Linkin Park started playing on my radio right after I finished writing the Normandy crash site piece for this chapter.**  
**Unsettling, but oddly appropriate.**

**Nicholas Glass & Quala'Oro are used by permission from Levi Matthews' _Finding a Way_**

**"Hesh'nealan" comes from Herr Wozzeck's _Mass Vexations_ series. *Tips hat in respect***


	10. Father Time

9: Father Time

Paper was almost never used for communication anymore. It was inefficient when everyone carried an omni-tool, and easily lost in transit. Apart from the lack of security and extra travel time documents written on paper had, there were plenty of other reasons not to send messages on paper.

They could be scribbled-on until the original text was nigh-indecipherable.

They could be crumpled into a ball, leaving them easily mistaken for garbage.

They could be torn and shredded into particles that would be difficult to reassemble without a significant amount of dedicated time and effort.

They could be burned to a crisp, allowing others to watch as whatever message was written literally went up in flames.

"That damned condescending, ignorant bosh'tet!"

It was for precisely those reasons that Tali'Zorah wished that her most recent message had been received on paper.

_To: Tali'Zorah vas Neema_

_Re: Cyniad Recovery_

_On behalf of the Admiralty Board, I would like to extend my thanks to you for recovering Lieutenant Liet'Forzan vas Idenna from the wreckage of the Cyniad. It is regrettable that you couldn't have arrived soon enough to save any other members of the Cyniad's illustrious crew, and that you didn't take the time to recover the valuable technologies that Admiral Xen had outfitted the ship with, but we all understand the importance of your mission with the primate, Shepard. Nonetheless, the safe return of Forzan, one of our fleet's true heroes, will be invaluable in our search for a new homeworld._

_Forzan's debriefing before the Admiralty, however, brought forth some concerns. Admiral Koris would like me to remind you that the security of the quarian fleet should supercede any other commitments you may think you have, especially when dealing with Cerberus and an AI._

_I don't need to remind you what the consequences would be if you ignored this warning._

_Nevertheless, Admiral Xen would like to know if you had any valuable intel on the organization or this "Enhanced Defense Intelligence" that we could use in the future. It would be a shame if you didn't after your extended time away from the fleet. The Admiralty wishes a quick and successful end to your mission with the humans._

_Keelah se'lai,_

_Sanir'Tovo vas Quib Quib, Fleet Security_

She shut off her omni-tool and stormed into the crew quarters. Fortunately for her, she had a pillow to take out her frustrations on.

Unfortunately, said pillow was occupied.

"Whoa, Tali," Kasumi yelped, her cloak deactivating as she jumped away from the punch. "When did punching the invisible girl become a game?"

The quarian jumped, surprised by her appearance for the first time in nearly a month. "Keelah! I didn't see you there, Kasumi. I didn't hit you, did I?"

"Nah, missed by _that_ much. Don't worry, hon- no harm, no foul." She waved one of her arms as the engineer let out a breath of relief. "So what did the pillow do that bothered you so much?"

"No, it's not the pillow. I mean it didn-" She looked up, noticing that the human was grinning. _Of course it's a joke,_ she thought with a shake of her head. "Ha-ha, Kasumi. It was just a message from a bosh'tet back in the fleet."

"I take it there's some history there."

_He blocks her path back to the drive core. "You've got a new assignment. The shuttle leaves in two hours."_

_"Wha-" She cuts herself off, trying not to appear as flustered. "Alright. I'll just ask Kal to get-"_

_"No. You're not going with your normal squad, apart from Quala. I trust a_ hero _such as yourself will be fine leading Prazza's group."_

_"But he's from internal security, not the Marines. He isn't trained for combat outside the fleet."_

_He glares at her. "He'll respond to authority, so long as it's earned. I daresay your leadership skills should be up for it. After all, you_ are _the daughter of the great Rael'Zorah and Laenya'Tirai."_

_"Shut your mouth, Tovo!" she roared back._

_"Say what you like,_ fleet-sister, _but don't you dare lie to me about your wasted potential. You needed a human to find your pilgrimage gift. You needed your father's influence to even gain command of a squad. You could be leading our people against the geth, but still you waste time tinkering aboard Gerrel's ship and crying for your dead captain. Tell me, are you really helping us?"_

Tali shook her head, attempting to cast off the memory of the man. "Let's just say I'm glad he transferred to a different ship."

Kasumi raised an eyebrow. "So, on a scale of one to pissed..."

"Worse than Jack when someone mentions the Illusive Man."

"Wow, that guy sounds like a real pain."

Tali grunted an affirmative. "I'd rather talk about something else right now, though."

"Like what?"

_Those blue eyes._

_His playful smirk._

_Those powerful musc- No! I'm not going there right now._ The quarian searched for something else to focus on before her head could overflow with... inconvenient thoughts.

Guilty thoughts.

She was distracted when a hand fell on her shoulder. Tali looked up, seeing a slight smile on Kasumi's face. "Why don't we continue that story?"

The quarian couldn't help but grin back. "I'd like that."

* * *

Now, the sixth town that Draam led them through was a place called-

**Tali, the beach. I know for a fact you said they only went through four towns on the way last time.**

Are you sure it wasn't-

**I'm sure.**

Fine...

The group reached the water's edge three nights after their departure from Moreh, just in time to see the last edge of the sun dip into the waves. Tikkun's light cast an astounding array of colors across the sky, the likes of which would leave you breathless. And if that didn't, the sight of its perfect reflection on the water's surface definitely woul-

**We both know what a sunset looks like, Tali.**

Quarian. Dark visors. Ninety-five percent of our lives are spent on the Fleet.

**Sorry, shutting up now.**

*Ahem*

The only blemish on the beautiful scene was a dark wooden vessel, right by the water's edge. People milled about the surface of the ship, busily preparing it for departure. A single quarian walked up to the approaching party.

"Ah, _Master_ Gurta," he said with a mild bow. "Sil'Reino vas Qunu. My crew is almost ready to cast off. We're just loading some additional supplies for the journey."

"Belay that," Draam cut in, earning a frown from the newcomer. "_My_ crew will need to depart immediately in order to make it on time."

"Sir, these are fishermen, not naval warriors. They will need additional food stores in order to keep morale up for a journey like this one."

"Then let them fish. Finding food shouldn't be a problem for them, but if we don't reach the waters in time-"

"It's a myth, Gurta," Sil retorted. "Legends and poems are going to get us nowhere."

At this point, Tas's curiosity peaked. "What do you mean by that?"

The seafarer exhaled in irritation. "Are you aware that the stars have stories behind them?"

"Of course," the navigator replied, pointing to a cluster of stars behind them. "Willan, the first farmer." He pointed to another group. "Raazac's arrow, which always flew to true north. And, of course, Atmi's jeweled veil," he finished, gesturing at a wide expanse of stars and colors that shone with a purple light before the dying sun.

**Don't you mean the Perse-**

*Shush!*

The sailor bristled with surprise. "I wouldn't expect one of the landlocked ones to share the passion."

"The bosh'tet does a lot of things that don't make sense," Alarei muttered.

"Come on," Draam cut in, waving his hands to get them moving again. "We're wasting moonlight."

Tas fell into step alongside Sil as they boarded the Qunu. "What legend were you referring to, about the stars?"

The fisherman directed the navigator's gaze toward a cluster of stars he didn't recognize. "Yevi, the Mother." He shifted his arm, pointing toward a group of nine stars, perfectly arrayed in an eight-pointed cross. "And Eloam, the marker. In this time of year, Eloam would be situated right over a settlement with a trading post.

"The legend says that a survivor washed ashore, starving and injured, several days after the cataclysm. The survivor died shortly after, but not before reciting a poem." He turned to the navigator, fixing him with a pensive look. "I hope you're up to the task. None of these men have ever been more than a day's voyage from shore."

"I'd like to hear it," Tas said, ignoring the jab at his capabilities.

Sil shrugged. "Sure. It's not like we have any real leads to go on..."

Catastrophe, for which none could plan

The people panic as the skies darken. Able to do naught but cower, they burn

They could not evade the coming wrath

I did escape, losing all I held, but sorrows will fade. Some day I must return

In blazing moon's fury I must stand

Beneath the cross where rock once stood, where furious boiling waters turn blades to rust,

Mother's faint tears will right my path

After time adrift among open stars, along tides of light and through shoals of dust,

I will return to where I began

**Innteressting...**

What?

**Does it rhyme in Khelish?**

Um, yes... Why did you ask?

**Because it did in English, too.**

Really?

**Yep, it was even metered and everything.**

*Pfft* Now I know you're just -what's the expression- pulling my leg?

**Correct on the expression, but I'm telling you the truth.**

Right, and Jacob looks like a monster.

**Hey!**

My point exactly.

* * *

"Any reason why you're only bringing Jacob?"

Shepard spared Glass a quick glance as the pilot opened the doors on the kodiak. "EDI didn't detect any hostile animal life and the beacon's been inactive for a decade. My guess is any survivors have either gone native or died out long ago, since their rations can't have lasted this long. It's a rescue mission on paper, but I wouldn't be surprised if this ends up being just like the Estevanico."

Jacob shook his head and stepped out onto the planet's surface. "I'd hope not. Diving off a cliff with a dead ship doesn't appeal to me."

"You never know, doing it twice could be something that's on Shepard's new bucket list."

The commander felt the grin that had appeared at Jacob's words slide off his face as the pilot closed the door.

Jacob drew his attention away from the Glass's bad joke, motioning toward their target. The Hugo Gernsback's wreckage looked downright pitiful; even a quarian would have torn it apart for its scrap metal. Even so, its basic shape was easily recognizable: the profile of a human shipping vessel, roughly 300 meters of its hull retaining the original shape. "There it is... and still mostly intact. They could have survived, but it's been... years."

_"I have run a scan of the ship,"_ EDI chimed over their comms. _"I detect no life signs, but there may be useful technology or information still inside."_

Shepard walked up beside the operative, noticing that there were several crates laid out in piles next to the ship. He quickly pointed them out to the man. "Looks like it was stripped after the crash."

"Yeah..." he mumbled in response, his eyes misty. "They'd have tried to get a beacon up as soon as possible." Upon hearing his own words, Jacob shook himself out of his trance and began to walk toward the wreck. "We should get moving, Commander."

"Are you sure you're okay with this? We could still call down Grunt or Samara if you'd like."

"No. I don't want the others to be worried about me. Besides, we should be able to handle anything this planet throws at us."

"And if we find your father?"

Jacob marched on in silence for a few steps, carefully stepping around some loose rocks. "I buried the man ten years ago. Worst case scenario, nothing changes about that."

An electronic voice could barely be heard, coming from near the crashed vessel. "...incompatible with human physiology. Override: beacon resumed. Pause time: eight years, 237 days, seven hours, under authority of Acting Captain Ronald Taylor. Repeat: toxology alert..."

"What the hell?"

* * *

**So now that that's settled, can we continue?**

That has to be the weirdest coincidence I've ever-

**You're stalling.**

...

Right.

They set off that night, gliding across the moonlit waters in the Qunu. Several weeks passed, the voyage taking them far from the lands they knew. Everyone was assigned tasks once on-board, including the guards who had escorted Draam's "guests" from Moreh. Tas, and Draam did their best to work out schedules for all, so there wouldn't be issues from boredom out on the empty waves.

**Like cabin fever?**

*Yipe!*

Er... They didn't- Um, I mean- It wouldn't exactly... There wasn't enough space to... There'd be no privacy... And our immune systems weren't... They were stronger back then, so... We didn't get sick. And- It's not like there was someone who would- With him, I mean...

Oh, Keelah...

**Oh, no-no-no-no-no! I didn't mean like that. Just forget I said anything.**

...

**...**

...

I'll try to do that.

But there were too many hands, too many mouths to feed. The food stores began to run dangerously low, putting more and more stress on the underfed crew. Nearly everyone found what little spare time they had being replaced by fishing duties. But no matter how many lines were being cast, there never seemed to be enough catches to feed the entire crew.

**Sounds like Draam made a bad call.**

Yes, and many of the men resented him for it. Draam didn't let it stop him, though- He toiled with Tas to keep the ship on course, rarely taking breaks for himself save for sleep.

But early one night, Tas found him up long after the leader's shift had ended. The man was standing at the ship's stern, his head angled skyward as the ship pitched and rolled with the waves.

"I wasn't expecting to see you taking a break, Draam," the Neeman said, taking a spot at the railing next to him.

"Neither was I," came the response. "Sleep hasn't been coming as easily as I'd have liked."

"Seasickness?"

"No." He looked away from the stars, quietly regarding the other quarian. "How do you do it?"

"Do what?"

"You still believe that we can find Rannoch. I know the looks the others give me when they think I'm not looking. Firn, he's starting to fall in with Sil and the other crew."

Tas nodded. "I know. He only came along for his brother's sake, no more and no less."

Draam listened for a while longer, expecting more from the navigator. When it became apparent that more on the subject wasn't forthcoming, he spoke again. "And what about Alarei?"

"I'm surprised you would ask about her motivation," Tas chuckled. "She's dedicated to protecting her king and his people is all. She would do anything for them. Still... She's beginning to lose faith that we'll find a way to save Neema."

"'Saving Neema', not 'finding Rannoch'?"

"The Walled Garden was only an option to her, and a long shot at that. She would rather fight for our survival- Not that I'd expect that to work in the long run."

"No," Draam conceded, "It wouldn't work for us either."

"What do you mean?"

The Idennan slouched against the railing, his head on his arms. "War won't solve the issues that this Famine has dumped on Idenna."

"Funny, I was under the impression that you would do anything to keep your crops alive, up to and including executing anyone who disagreed."

He shook his head. "That is Murin's doctrine, one that's barely softened the impact. As for me, I've grown tired of dining on the blood of my people."

Tas fell into a quiet rumination at his words. His own gaze drifted to the stars overhead as the minutes stretched onward.

"I believe it because it's the only chance for both of our people."

Draam nodded. "On that point, we can agree. But that's an excuse, not an answer."

"In blazing moon's fury I must stand," Tas recited. "Beneath the cross where rock once stood, where furious boiling waters turn blades to rust / Mother's faint tears will right my path." He turned toward the Idennan and pointed toward a cluster of stars almost directly overhead. "Eloam is almost directly overhead now, and there's an eclipse that's supposed to occur within the week. I'd bet anything that's what the 'blazing moon' refers to." He lowered his arm, turning back to Draam. "If anything, we're closer to rediscovering Rannoch than anyone's ever-"

_"Get them!"_

The two found themselves buried under a tangle of bodies, stripped of their weapons by a surprise attack. Tas was easily overwhelmed, and found himself bound in place by a pair of crew members. They held him so he could see Draam, who was valiantly struggling in the grip of a quartet of others. As he looked on, two more ganged up on the Idennan, beating him into submission with a flurry of kicks and punches.

"That's enough." The two prisoners were turned to face another crewman. "Killing him won't do us any favors when we return home."

Draam coughed blood onto the deck in front of him. "Mutiny, Sil? You're going to doom us all!"

"No," the sailor replied, "I'm saving my crew from this lost cause of a voyage. Your leadership has us starving and is bound to lead to our demise. I won't let this continue."

"Damn it, Sil! If you can't listen to me, then at least listen to Tas. He was just saying we're closer than anyone else has come in centuries."

"To finding out that Rannoch doesn't exist," he snapped back bitterly. "We're going to die on this quest, can't you see it?"

"And our people back home will die if we don't find it."

"Not when we conquer Neema. The Lord will attack, regardless of what happens from chasing this myth. If he wants to sacrifice some unfortunate souls for no reason, then I won't let those be my people he wastes."

"And what are you going to tell them when you get back?" Tas piped up. "He won't let you go free for derailing the mission."

"Tell me, Tas, how far are we from the Walled Garden?"

The navigator didn't have an answer.

"And how far from coastal Idenna?"

"About 3700 wevat," he muttered.

**Ahem.**

Carry that, round it... Roughly 4300 kilometers.

**Thank you.**

Sil continued speaking. "You see, we've barely made it that far. Anyone who you tell that number to will be underprepared. He'll get a location, but it won't be Rannoch's. So long as it's far enough away, he'll just assume the disappearances will be from people abandoning Idenna to its fate."

"Like you are?" Draam spat.

"That's enough!"

A flurry of movement caught the mutineers' eyes, as a figure crashed into the group holding Draam in place. The deck gave way to chaos as the newcomer brawled, obscuring Draam from Tas's vision. A series of yelps sounded, prompting him to wrestle against his own captors. Sil was on him in an instant, however, punching him in the gut to stop his struggling. When he caught his breath, however, he found that the other crew members had backed away from Draam and the assailant.

"Thanks for the help, Alarei," the Idennan said, brandishing his recovered cutlass.

"Do you really think I was doing it to save you?" she asked, her own sword drawn and pointed toward the quarians holding on to Tas. "I did it to stop these idiots from doing something to that one."

"Then why bother rescuing me first?"

"He's quite useless in combat. Wouldn't be able to fight his way out after this part if I went for him."

Tas noticed that Sil held a knife to his throat, threatening to spill the blood of the one person who could lead them all back to shore. He began to chuckle at the absurdity of the situation; Alarei had foregone a straight fight in favor of a hostage situation, just because he might not have lived otherwise.

The sailor was not amused.

"Shut up!" he snarled, giving the defenseless navigator another blow to the stomach.

Alarei shifted her stance, a low growl coming from the warrior as her eyes narrowed.

"Step away from the bosh'tet."

* * *

_"That's the best you can do?"_

_The two men ignore my excuses. I demand to know who the outspoken one was. The stranger looks as mad as the hunters. He could undo everything if he-_

_"Taylor. Lieutenant Jacob Taylor."_

_Son?_

_I leave the boy with his mother. Anger. Regret. The letters cease soon after the voyage started. I'm not surprised. There's no need to seek him out. No reason to revive the past._

_"Until you needed someone to save your ass."_

_An electrical failure. Drive core offline. We must have hit something. Asteroid, maybe? Captain Fairchild is gone. What the hell do I do? I'm no leader!_

_"What about your crew, 'Acting Captain'?"_

_Fear._

_Crash landing. Other officers survived, thank God. Can't eat the plants here, degenerates the mind. No, only the officers should use the rations. The women start to worship me and the officers. "We just want to go home."_

_"What was that moment? I want to know there was an actual reason!"_

_Regret._

_The non-officers become impatient. They don't understand rank anymore. Only examples. Only force. But they forget, far too often. We need dominance. We found Gray on top of Beth. Poor girl. She screams as we pull her away from him. Anders consoles her. She doesn't remember. We could use this._

_"That's it? You created a harem and played king? Ten years in a juvenile fantasy!"_

_The men abandon us. Not like the droolers were helping, anyway. The beacon's fixed, finally. They return, completely native. Where did they get the guns? We can't let the Alliance know now._

_"And if you treat them like animals -big shock- they become animals."_

_Desperation._

_Anders becomes outspoken, says we should activate the beacon anyway. No, they'll imprison us all. I grab the pistol. The other officers watch as he falls. Gray laughs, wants to take the women for himself. Can't allow that anymore. I grab the mech controls. Nobody can find out, but that doesn't mean I can't keep the crew comfortable._

_He won't take them!_

_"You fought over people like they were toys. Things!"_

_The last box of rations. Enough for a few weeks, at most. Almost nine years since Gray and Anders... left. To join them or not? Maybe the rations will run out before help comes._

_Yeah..._

_They'll think I was a victim as well. The beacon activates without a problem. I only have to wait._

_"It's all about you. Everything!"_

_Offworlders! Damn, they got here too soon. I spin my tale. They can't find out. They won't find out. I compliment them, offer to get them a drink. The man in black and white. His anger... looks familiar._

_...Son..._

_"I don't know who you are, because you're not any father I remember."_

_The man hands me a pistol, almost overheated. Why isn't the heat venting? I can't defend myself with this!_

_"It's not for them, Dad."_

_No..._

_The hunters are moving toward me. The other man holds them back, but I see the fury in their eyes._

_The hate._

_NO!_

_I fire at the hunters. I can wait. Another ship will come. Another chance to escape. They'll believe me! I fire again._

_Pain._

_Horrible pain._

_My feet leave the ground. Purple lances across my body. What the hell? The other man glows, the same energy. Jacob shakes his head._

_So tired._

_"My father owned his mistakes. He was a different man. A good man."_

_Guilt._

_Failure._

_Disgrace._

_..._

_Disgrace..._

_I try to speak. I can't hear if the words are coming out or not. But I have to._

_"I'm... sorry... Ja-"_

Shepard felt a shiver run down his spine as the Reave ended, a thump announcing the late Ronald Taylor's return to the ground. He fought the urge to vomit in disgust, both from the act of destroying the man in such a way and from the man's dying thoughts. He willed himself to focus on Jacob and the remaining male members of the Hugo Gernsback's crew. "Did he hit any of them?"

"No," the Cerberus operative replied, turning to the others. To Shepard's surprise, they submitted, lowering their weapons and cautiously approaching the two new soldiers. "You did the right thing, Commander. These people have lived in this hell for far too long."

The dead man's memories continued to run through John's mind, filling him with unease as his ally radioed for pickup.

"Did I?"

* * *

"Make me."

Alarei's response was instantaneous, her blade passing through Sil's ankle faster than Tas's eyes could track. The mutineer leapt away from his prisoner, shock and pain from losing his foot overriding his will to keep control of his hostage. She pointed her sword at the two men who were still holding on to the navigator's arms. "I'll say this one more time: Step away from the bosh'tet."

They complied immediately, backing away from him with their arms raised. She spared a look at Tas, her eyes lingering where he had been struck.

Something about the way she looked at him made the man smile. "I'm alright. I've gotten worse injuries than that from sparring."

"Good to know," she muttered, her facade melting into a look of indifference. She turned to face Sil's supporters. "This ship is continuing on to find Rannoch. With Draam and the bosh'tet leading. Does anyone here have a problem with that?"

Apart from the sounds of waves crashing into the vessel and the soft whimpers from the recently-mutilated mutineer, the deck was silent.

"Good. Now GET YOUR BLOODY ASSES BACK TO YOUR STATIONS!"

The crewmen scrambled away from the scene, eager to put as much distance between them and the Neeman warrior as possible. Alarei gave an impassive expression as she helped Tas to his feet. "You owe me one for that," she said.

"What about the battle on the hill?"

"Fine, one-half. The prince over there owes me seven though."

Draam's eyes widened "What?!"

"That's how many people I had to punch before you finally got your wits about you." She shrugged as the Idennan continued to fume. "Don't worry, I'll keep the others in check in the meantime. You should probably get rid of him though."

Sil's cries ceased as he gripped the bloody stump of his leg. "No, you wouldn't- I can't- It's not- NO!"

Draam picked up a dagger off the ground, its pristine white handle gleaming before his hands clasped around it. "I was wondering who had stolen my other blade," he mused.

"The others- They wouldn't listen. I needed to- Just don't do it!"

The man descended to his level, the blade coming dangerously close to the wounded sailor. Sil began to back away, scuttling into the railing on his back and his hands. "Please, Draam. I did it for them. I couldn't see them die. Not like this."

The knife hovered over Sil's heart, his breaths shortening to keep himself from touching the blade's tip. "Not like this..."

Draam bent low to the other quarian, keeping the threat of his dagger's touch over Sil. "Murin would have me kill you without a second thought. Either run you through with this blade right here, or take you back to Moreh where your blood can sustain our crops."

The cornered man froze, his eyes fixed on the dagger.

"But I am not him. This is not his kingdom, but a ship. For the time being, _my_ ship. You just tried to overthrow and possibly kill me, and threatened the life of the only person aboard who could grant us a safe journey, whether it was for the mission or to return home."

Sil didn't speak.

"However, you did it with the livelihood of the crew in mind. You wanted to save them from what you believed was certain death. Even if it was at the hands of the ship's captain."

The wounded man held his breath, turning to look into Draam's eyes.

"For that, I'll let you live."

Tas stared on in surprise as the Idennan stood up, turning away from Sil's pitiful form as he sheathed the knife in a black scabbard on his hip. Draam quickly walked back to his quarters, offering only a short order before leaving.

"Patch him up and set him in the lookout perch. I don't want him coming down until we reach the shore."

* * *

"Crow's nest."

Tali looked over at Kasumi, sure that her translator had glitched. "Sorry?"

"The lookout station on an old-style sea vessel, humans call it a crow's nest."

The quarian shook her head softly. "And here, I thought you were going to stop criticizing the story."

"Well, now that you mention it..."

She shot the human a half-serious glare. _Really?_

"Nothing about 'convenient plot devices' this time. Just something I wanted to ask you."

Tali let out a quick laugh. "Okay, okay. I have to go back to work soon, though. Gabby and Ken will probably need my help by now."

"You and your work habits... Still, not quite the 'quarian thing' I wanted to ask about."

The engineer jumped. She scrambled to get up from her seat on the bed, but the human kept a firm grip on her arm. "I should-"

"I talked to Liet, the quarian you rescued on Gei Hinnon."

She froze in place, her suit feeling as if she'd been dropped back on Noveria. "You didn't... If she knew-"

"I didn't drop your name, Tali." Kasumi's voice softened, a comforting grin spreading. "Believe me, I would never do that. I told her that Grunt had once gone into a blood rage and attacked Shep."

"So... she doesn't know that I..."

"No." The human frowned, concern in her eyes. "But she did tell me that the Fleet would think about it."

Tali's lip trembled, her breath hitching in her throat.

"She said they would see an act like that as mutiny, possibly even treason."

The quarian's lips moved on their own accord, whispering the words that had haunted her for weeks.

"A crime punishable by death."

The human didn't nod, but her expression told Tali that she had been told the same by Liet'Forzan. The thief's next few words tumbled out slowly, cautiously. "But... what about Sil? If anything, he... deserved... worse than you. And Draam let him go."

She shuddered, her voice barely masking sobs that threatened to overwhelm her. "He was still useful. Sil could help the crew."

"That's a lie and you know it."

The blunt reply caught her off-guard, causing her to straighten up.

"Draam spared Sil because he had the crew's best interests in mind." When the quarian remained silent, Kasumi continued. "Even if he was misguided, he was still trying to help. Draam respected that, so he let him live."

The quarian found her voice. "But... this is different."

"No. You were fighting to save yourself and your friend from certain death. Plus, you couldn't have known it was him. Besides." The human leaned in closer. "Liet told me that a ship's captain is still viewed as the highest authority on his own vessel."

"Yes, but I don't see how-"

"Shepard forgave you, Tali."

"No, he-"

"Shepard, your captain, forgave you."

"But he's not!" she sniffled, a fresh bout of sobs overpowering her. "I'm crew of the Neema."

"What is the name of the ship we're on?"

She paused. "The Normandy."

"Who is the chief engineer of the Normandy?"

"I... I am."

"And who is the captain of the Normandy?"

"Sh... John Shepard."

"Exactly, Tali. _Your captain_ already passed judgement. He didn't think you needed to be punished, Tali. Technicality or not, you've already been proven innocent."

"I..."

"Let it go, Tali."

"But he was-"

"Let it go, Tali."

"But it-"

"He already forgave you. You just need to let yourself see it."

_She's pulled closer into his embrace. A thousand feelings rush through her as her own arms entwine around him. "It's okay, Tali. I'm just glad you're okay."_

_The scene cuts away, her arms enclosing nothing but air. A blade has found its way into her hand, its surface covered with a red fluid. A flanging voice yells out at her. "Tali, what the FUCK did you do?"_

Words failed the woman. She collapsed on her friend, pulling her into a tight embrace as she wept. "But what if I can't? Keelah, I want to, but I can't."

"You need to let it go."

"I..." She took a deep breath, willing the cries to stop. Even so, a thin line of silver was still visible through the visor. "I understand what you're saying. Thank you."

Tali slowly stood up, but the human still clung to her hand. A pleading look adorned the thief's face.

The engineer looked down, willing herself to relax enough to say what she needed to.

"I'll try."

Kasumi nodded and let her go.

* * *

"What do you mean, it wasn't you?"

_"Jacob, if I had leaked the information about the Gernsback, I would be smiling at your resolution of the situation._

_"I am not smiling."_

Miranda pinched the bridge of her nose as Shepard rushed into the communications room, too fixed on Jacob and the quantum entanglement array to notice her presence. The man added his own voice to the argument as she tried to don her usual mask of aloofness.

Unfortunately, her thoughts kept returning to her sister.

_Damn it! They still won't be ready for another week. I'll need to stall him, maybe he won't even think I-_ She cut herself off; the Illusive Man would hardly fall for such a weak alibi, let alone if Kai Leng was lurking nearby._ No, there has to be a better way. "Loyal", the file called me. Perhaps... perhaps I won't have to lie after all._

"Fine, you didn't forward it. So who did?"

It was a long shot, but a better plan than trying to lie to her boss. She stepped forward, making sure to hold her head high. "I did."

Jacob visibly bristled at her sudden entrance, while her commander managed to contain his surprise to his eyes. The Illusive Man's electric eyes, however, didn't widen like Shepard's. On the contrary, they had become slits.

Predatory slits.

She stood up to his gaze as the surprised operative next to her began to recover. "Where... How did you find out?"

"It was hardly classified, just obscure," she truthfully reported, remembering the cipher she had used to decode the data. Miranda turned away from the Cerberus leader's deadly gaze to directly address Jacob. "There was a time when this mattered to you. Sending this along seemed like keeping an old promise. I keep my promises."

"Miranda," the Illusive Man growled, "We'll discuss your liberal interpretation of security protocol in private. Shepard, Jacob."

Miranda's face lost its professional appearance for but a moment. She snuck Jacob the slightest of grins before he stepped away from the QEC.

_I'm sorry... for everything._

She couldn't tell if he had understood before the other two vanished from sight. The woman squared her stance, facing down the man like a defiant criminal before the firing squad. She radiated courage, determination, and strength.

On the inside, however, Miranda was as scared as she had been during their first meeting.

* * *

_The Pupil quietly stepped into the darkened room, carefully tiptoeing toward the figure at the opposite end. A cloud of smoke lingered around his head, a product of the lit shaft in his hand. He exhaled, adding to the smoky halo above him. "Henry would not be pleased to find you here."_

_She blinked in surprise. "How did you-"_

_"Know? Your shadow betrayed you. Though it was a skillful entrance." The man turned to face her, his eyes burning with an unearthly blue light. "I'll assume from the fact you came unarmed that you're not here to attack me."_

_The Pupil nodded slightly, unable to break his gaze. Though extremely talented, something about the man told her that she was no longer the predator in the room. He waited, the silence pressing down on her worse than any interrogation at her father's hands, whether deserved or not; he was a gigantic piston, slowly crushing her within an old-style combustion engine. "I... need your help."_

_"Why."_

_She shivered at the bluntness of the word. It wasn't a question. An order, or a statement of what was to come, perhaps, but not a mere query._

_"I need to leave this place, as soon as possible. With a package."_

_He snubbed out his cigarette in a nearby ashtray, though neither of the two looked away. A hint of amusement passed through those blues, a spark in the cybernetics._

_"You surely can't expect him to accept that _both_ of his daughters have simply vanished at the same time." He continued, ignoring the Pupil's barely-disguised gasp of surprise. "Even if he decided not to pursue his latest failed experiment, he would not ignore Oriana's potential. He would give anything to either of you as-is so long as you followed his orders, but that would change if he was forced to track either of you down. I say again: why."_

_"Because... neither of us are free."_

_"So escape is your answer?" he scoffed. "Flee a prison of luxury to become a slave of necessity? Doom your sister to the life of a fugitive, always running from Henry's self-declared empire and its rapidly-expanding grasp?"_

_"No."_

_Silence wrapped itself around them, threatening to choke the Pupil due to the tension. Still, she did not dare to even blink, lest the man stole her face or some other feat beyond the expectations of a mere human._

_She wouldn't put it past him._

_"No?" he voiced, clearly a question this time._

_"No. My answer is to give her a new life. One where she would be free to make her own choices, protected from him for as long as they both should live."_

_He nodded, a slight move that almost went unnoticed by the Pupil. "A noble cause. But you still have not told me the most important thing."_

_"Which is?"_

_The man took a step closer, regarding her with an assessing eye. "Henry Lawson contributes greatly to my organization. His resources and developments have made him reliable, and reliability is good for business. I have no reason to alienate him now, at your request. So I say again. Why."_

_She took a deep breath. "Because doing so would earn you something better than reliability."_

_"Reliability is difficult to replace. What would prove to be stronger than that?"_

_"Loyalty," she responded, a firm nod punctuating her certainty. "For as long as you desire it. You've only seen some of what I can offer for your organization. Intellect, logistics, combat-readiness, biotics. My father trained me well."_

_"And how do I know you wouldn't try the same against me? That you won't abandon me like you would Henry?"_

_She found herself unable to hold back the blink, though she was still intact when her eyes fixed once more on his. "I... am a slave, and always have been. I can change nothing about that, but Ori shouldn't have the same fate."_

_"So you would follow my orders, even orders to kill?"_

_The Pupil stopped to consider the question. True, she could kill for him, but did she want to make the conscious decision to execute others on demand? No matter what?_

_"Killing for orders typically creates one of two things: addiction or depression. Would you risk a valuable asset's mental status like that?"_

_He laughed. _Laughed._ "But if an objective required you to kill? For the good of a cause?"_

_She nodded. "I would be obligated to defend myself, and to remove any threats to humanity's greatest hope."_

_The Illusive Man finally broke his hold on her eyes. He made his way to the door, a titan ignoring the sole mortal in the room. "We'll be in touch."_

* * *

He knew she was afraid.

She hid the signs well. Her father's training had been excellent, for its time. To the Illusive Man, however, "subtle" stood out like a fireworks display. The minor twitch in her lips, the eyelids that shifted by a fraction of a millimeter, the slight hesitation before she laid her hands at her side... Of course, she had gotten better at hiding the cues since their first meeting.

But better wasn't the same as perfection.

"You opened Rawlings' data cache."

She inclined her head by a small margin, not taking her eyes off of his. "Yes."

_No denial. No unasked excuses._ "Explain."

"I forwarded the files directly to your office via the link set up through EDI. Approximately two standard hours later, I received a reply that was not written in your hand and implied that the sender did not have the means to access the data. I became suspicious, and decided to verify the difficulty using my own clearance. The data was able to be decrypted using only gamma-two level clearance, bringing me to two possible conclusions: the sender was either explicitly lying about the difficulty, or was not from Cerberus.

"I took the initiative to review the data myself, in case the latter proved true. In this case, I would be able to disclose the full contents via QEC at your request, should the message prove to be a forgery."

_Completely level. No obvious signs of lying yet. Still..._ "And you didn't think to warn me about this possible security breach?"

A minor lag in communications to be expected when conversing with someone several thousand light-years away; the buoy network that serviced the galaxy simply couldn't transmit the data fast enough to avoid a delay of at least a quarter-second between clusters. The QEC system linking the Normandy to Chronos Station, however, should have been capable of instantaneous transmission. To the unwary, the half-second delay before hearing Miranda's response would have been nothing to bother with.

But the Illusive Man was far from unwary.

"I trusted that you would have contacted me if you hadn't received the data."

His eyes closed. Air pooled in through his nostrils before being expelled in a quiet rush. He opened them again, focusing on his _second_-best operative.

"You were correct on that count, but that sort of behavior can't be tolerated. Consider this your only warning, Lawson."

The woman visibly bristled, the weight of his words striking her across the face from half a galaxy away. "Understood," she said, regaining her composure. "It won't happen again."

"See that it doesn't," he said, terminating the connection with a frown. He refilled his own glass of whiskey for once, neglecting the servants that usually performed the task for him. He swirled the amber liquid within the tumbler, watching the waves spin across the surface.

_What did I expect? Even Saren defied the reapers in the end._

"That was... lenient of you."

He didn't look up at the sound of Kai Leng's voice, toning gruffly. "Her services have earned her that much. It would also be difficult to replace her."

Leng's grudging silence told him exactly how the assassin felt on that subject. The Illusive Man elected against verbally chewing him out for it, allowing the stern look he shot him to speak instead. _You know I meant "on the Normandy". Now stand the hell down._

The man's shoulders lowered themselves by a minuscule amount, the only outward sign of his acquiescence. The Illusive Man's gaze returned to the glass. His eyes slipping out of focus as his mind wandered, as if hypnotized by the fluid.

"She is lying."

"Yes and no," came his cryptic response. He took a sip of the beverage, savoring the burn in the back of his throat. "She never stated anything that was completely untrue. But she was shaken. Miranda felt she was doing the right thing by opening the file, of that much I'm certain. But her reasons..."

"Can't be trusted," the assassin butted in. "Letting her stay with Shepard and his... pets may be having undesirable consequences."

"Perhaps," he conceded, "but she isn't acting against us. We both know she wouldn't go against her mission. The facts are still in our favor: she still needs Cerberus to protect Echo." The Illusive Man looked up, activating the vid screens in front of him as he checked in on his projects. "_If_ the situation escalates, I will handle it."

"But what if she doesn't nee-"

"I said I will handle it."

He closed the update from Project Obsidian, bringing up the one from Overlord in its place. _That reaper isn't going anywhere for the time being. Not until Shepard visits, at least._ As his eyes traveled down the document, he heard a grunt of displeasure from the other man. "The subject is closed, Leng."

"That wasn't for Henry Lawson," he said, correctly interpreting his meaning. "But this quarian you recruited for the cause-"

"Do you have a problem with my judgement?"

"No, but I'd prefer if we weren't trusting the success of the project to a suit-rat without telling the scientists who we're dealing with. This is humanity's fight, not theirs."

The Illusive Man nodded. "Understandable, but the potential benefits to the Migrant Fleet are too great for the quarian to risk betrayal, even with their own feelings about us. And despite the need for secrecy, our _asset_ is making progress." He lit a new cigarette, taking a long drag of its pungent fumes before exhaling.

_In leaps and bounds._

* * *

_I'm not a monster._

_A radical thinker, yes. Driven to save my species, yes. Willing to go farther than most would dare in order to reclaim the homeworld, certainly._

_A horrible father... yes._

_But not a monster._

He knew that he had pushed away his only daughter after Laenya's death, that he had effectively ripped himself out of Tali's life since that day so long ago. Thankfully, Raan and Tali's friends had been there for her when he could not.

When he should not.

Everything about his daughter reminded him of his beloved. Laenya's laughter. Laenya's voice. Laenya's modesty. Laenya's accusing stare whenever he wronged or angered her.

Of course, Raan had tried to convince him otherwise with her own words. How she saw a strong quarian, willing to do everything possible to help her people. How the girl was gifted beyond her years, both in skill and luck. How she possessed a potential for leadership, despite the young one's trepidation toward the prospect.

Any chance those words had of succeeding died when Tali decided to don her mother's _realk_.

The day she returned from her pilgrimage, she had requested to see him, the Alarei's captain. When he had heard that her gift could advance his research by leaps and bounds, he'd rejoiced. But then he saw her, wearing Laenya's purple cloth over her suit. Being haunted by his bondmate's memory was one thing. Having to see her spitting image on a daily basis, however...

_Focus!_

Admiral Rael'Zorah shook his head, bringing himself back to the task at hand. "Run test 435-B."

"Running 435-B. Activating geth platform in three... two... one... now."

Rael and his team watched through a quarter-meter-thick window as a geth trooper sparked to life. The synthetic slowly sat up on the operating table within the soundproofed room, its single eye burning accusingly at the quarians. It crossed the room to the window, the only visible exit.

**Thud**

It struck at the barrier, attempting to break free of its prison.

**Thud**

Rael wasn't phased. Every other test had started out exactly like this.

**Thud**

His voice was devoid of expression, tired from stating the order hundreds of times. "Paav'Olo, initiate the hack."

**Thud**

"Hacking protocol uploaded. Active in three seconds."

**Thud**

**Thud**

It stopped. The geth's hand froze less than a centimeter away from the surface.

"Order it to stand down."

The techs behind him worked at their consoles, sending a signal to the machine. It began to lower its arm.

And began to kick at the window instead.

"Sensors show it's restored from backup, Admiral."

_Another failure..._ Rael shook his head at the sight of the geth, still attempting to escape its prison. "Shut it off. We need to work on the issues in lines 343 and 2401 if we're going to override that damn safeguard."

The other quarians nodded their heads and began to log the results of the experiment. Before the kill switch was thrown, however, one of the techs said something that stunned the whole room.

"I think I have something that might help."

All activity ceased as the admiral looked at the one who had spoken. His voice finally took on an emotion: unadulterated shock.

"What did you say?"

The speaker, Mala'Reet, quivered under his gaze. "My bondmate sent me something that coul-"

"This project is supposed to remain CLASSIFIED, Reet!" the admiral yelled. "If ANYTHING about this was to get out to the rest of the fleet, it would mean all of us would be EXILED. Is that what you want?"

"I d-didn't tell him anything about the p-project, sir," she stammered. "He didn't even write the c-code that was sent."

A single word passed from Rael's voice modulator, barely above a whisper.

"Explain."

Her words poured out in a rush. "A cousin of his sent it to him to give to me. Shee told him it was something that could help what I was working on. Yan didn't even know what it was for!"

Silence settled over the room, with the exception of the rhythmic strikes of the geth and a small whimper from Mala. Rael contemplated the woman's statement as she continued to shake. "Cousin, you say?"

"His grandfather was born during a break in the single-birth limit. I never even met this cousin of his."

"Do you even know her name?"

She shook her head. "No idea, only that she's on the Moreh. But the file checks out."

Silence.

**Thud**

"Forward it to me and Olo. You," he pointed at the named tech, "and I need to verify it."

The geth's persistent attempts at escape became the only source of sound as Rael and his senior scientist examined the code. Half an hour passed before the two closed the displays on their omni-tools. "Your thoughts, Olo?"

"It's like she said. The code appears built off of version 412-C, but has some extra lines that I don't know the purpose of. They don't appear to add any functions that interfere with the control signal though. If anything worries me, it's the message sender's omni-tool signature. It's-"

"Forged, I know. Someone's aware of the tests, savvy enough to find a workaround for one of our issues, and manages to sneak their version of the code to us?"

Rael quietly considered the offer, for an offer it most certainly was. _It's almost too convenient, but we haven't made any headway since version 358. I can't keep the other admirals in the dark forever, especially if this could have been sent by Da-_

"Admiral Zorah? What do you want to do?"

_He clamped tighter to her hand, willing her to stay alive for just a little while longer. "I will give her the homeworld if I have to!"_

Rael gave a slight nod. "Prepare for a test run using Mala's code. Log it as test 436-A."

Nobody moved except Mala. "Captain, are you sure-"

"I said run the damn test."

"Sir?" Olo piped up. "We do have failsafes in place in case any test code becomes malicious, but I wouldn't recommend taxing the-"

"Just do it."

He turned to face the geth as the other quarians reset the testing equipment. It continued to kick at the transparent barrier, thumping out a tireless rhythm as Rael glared at it.

"Test code 436-A executing in three..."

**Thud**

"Two..."

**Thud**

"One..."

**Thud**

"Now."

It stopped. The machine held its pose, seemingly ready to attack the admiral who stood just out of reach.

"Order it to stand down."

The synthetic placed its foot on the ground, then stood up straight.

"Have it raise its right arm."

It obeyed.

"Lower it."

It did so.

"Finally," Rael breathed. "We've made some progress. End the test an-"

The geth's eye suddenly glowed with a green energy. It began to lift its arm once more.

"Paav'Olo, are you doing that?"

"No sir, it appears to be reacting to some outside signal. I'm not controlling it."

"Quick, kill the-" Before he finished the sentence, the green light faded. The geth once more stood at attention, as if awaiting a command.

"Sir?"

"Order it to lift its left arm this time. Hold for exactly five seconds, then lower it."

It did so under Rael's vigilant gaze.

The green light didn't return. "Any sign of that outside signal?"

"Negative," one of the other techs replied. "Maybe it was a one-time occurrence? That signal was sent using standard radio waves- It could have been some sort of interference that caused it to repeat your order."

"That... is possible, Lio'Pallai." the admiral breathed.

_Her fingers slacken in his hold. A minute passes, or perhaps an hour, before he lays her hand down. "In the name of the homeworld Tali will see someday, I promise you."_

"We're moving up our timetables. Start networked testing immediately."

"What?" Olo yelped. "We should focus on finding out what caused that signal, and how the geth was effected. It could happen again."

"And how would we know that without continued testing?" Rael countered. "No, we need to keep going." He looked back toward the now docile geth, his grim tone making up for his hidden face. "Do we have enough parts to bring more online?"

"Yes," Paav admitted. "The new shipment from your daughter should let us add at least two more geth to the network."

"This code changes everything, Admiral," Mala replied. "The Admiralty Board won't be as opposed now that we know it works. Perhaps we should inform them, just to be safe."

Rael shot that idea down immediately. "No, we're too close. I promised to build my daughter a house on the homeworld. I'm not going to jeopardize that by leaving it to the bickering politicians."

"You know, if Tali'Zorah sent us more working material, we could expand the network more easily," Lio thought aloud. "Perhaps if we-"

"Absolutely not!" The admiral's frosty gaze swung toward the young tech. "I don't want her exposed to any political blowback. Leave. Tali. Out of this!" He took a moment to master his breathing rate before continuing.

_He can't bear to look her. She repeats her request, and again he hears Laenya's voice. He can't let her add to his torment, it would only wind up hurting the both of them even more. He responds, his tone professional, deprived of the emotions that threatened to shred his very soul. "I cannot accept your pilgrimage gift, Tali'Zorah."_

_I wish things had been different._

"Assemble new geth with what we have. Bypass security protocols if need be."

Rael didn't listen as the others deactivated the geth and concluded the test session, his mind lingering on the last time he had willingly allowed himself to see his daughter in person. Even buried in his work as he was, he knew it would not have been enough to distract him from the presence of his bondmate's living specter. Oh, he knew she wasn't a true carbon copy of her mother, but he would never have been able to see the young woman's other qualities. Especially not when she looked and sounded just like Laenya.

Allowing her to stay was simply not an option two years ago. He knew Tali hated him for it. Keelah, he hated himself for it.

But it was the only way he could do right by her.

* * *

"It's my duty as a father."

Shepard rose from his seat, addressing the drell across the table. "I'll set a course for the Citadel immediately."

"Thank you, Shepard," Thane murmured, his eyes assuming the glazed appearance that John had learned to associate with reliving his memories. "I may not have been there for Kolyat much before, but I won't allow him to live the life I did. He never deserved it."

The Spectre took his leave as the drell lowered his head in prayer. _I just hope we get there in time._ Somehow, Thane's son had found out about the father's messy profession. Kolyat had thrown around his name and gotten hired on an assassination contract somewhere. _Still, the fact that he's willing to drop everything and go across the galaxy for his son..._ He shook his head softly at the thought.

_Jacob._

He put a hand to his head, a rush of thoughts cascading through his mind.

_Guilt._

_Failure._

_Disgrace._

"Sir?"

Shepard's eyes jerked open, taking in his surroundings in an instant. _I could have sworn the mess hall was farther away than that._ Several people were clustered around the tables, too absorbed in their own meals to have noticed his entrance. Jacob, however, had a look of concern on his face, a sauce-speckled plate in his hands. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah..." John walked over to the kitchen, and soon heard a soft clink of metal as Jacob set his dish on the island. Gardner could be seen on the other side of the counter, busily whipping up more of the night's meal. He lowered his voice. "Something Thane said... it reminded me of what happened groundside is all."

"You needed to stop him, Shepard," the Cerberus operative responded. "He's killed his crewmates before, and he was trying to kill again. Best he could have hoped for when the Alliance finally arrived was life in a cell." He paused, then, "Even that would have been too good for him."

"And you're okay with that?"

"I've told you before, I buried the man he was ten years ago. But you don't need to worry about me. Those people needed to be rescued, even if he didn't. Besides..." A grin began to creep across Jacob's face as he pointed a thumb at the working cook. "Gardner's almost out of the good stuff. You should get a helping before Grunt arrives to kill off everything that's still edible."

"I'll thank you for not criticizing tomorrow's meatloaf before I've even cooked it, Taylor." The named man cut in, holding out a loaded plate for Shepard. "He wasn't kidding about Grunt though, Commander. The krogan can eat half Joker's body weight in one sitting when he's peckish."

Shepard accepted the plate. "We're heading to the Citadel right now, so you won't have to put varren meat back on the menu again for a while."

"That's good news, Shepard," Jacob said. "But don't beat yourself up over... you know." The Spectre gave a slight nod, understanding that he didn't want to talk about his father in front of an audience. "I'll leave you to your dinner then."

"Jacob. Rupert." John turned away and started looking for an empty seat. He had just settled in and lifted his fork when his omni-tool chimed.

_Of all the times to get an urgent message..._ He lowered the utensil and opened his inbox. The metal tool fell to the table with a clatter as he read what had to be the shortest message Garrus had ever sent him.

**I've found him.**

* * *

**Note from the author:**  
**Nicholas Glass's character was created by Levi Matthews for ****_Finding a Way_**** and is used by permission.**

**Khelish word of the day:**  
**realk - traditional shawl worn by quarians of both genders, typically seen on the outside of the sh'rayan**  
**(Credit to Calinstel, because I've literally seen enough fics with this term that calling it something else feels wrong lol)**


	11. Justice-

10: Justice...

_The asari laughs, her body glowing blue. A human woman lies before her, broken, beaten. She points his way. "You, come here."_

_The viewpoint moves forward, reluctance pouring from the vision. The asari takes off her shotgun, forcing it into her hands._

_Or were they his hands?_

_Eyes shift, darting between the weapon, the broken woman, and the asari. A cruel smile splits her face as her biotics dialed down. Without the blue aura, the yellow Eclipse logo was easily visible. The merc pointed at the helpless form before her, her voice imperious as she barked a single word._

_"Kill!"_

_His eyes shut._

_When he opened his eyes, he wasn't sure what he would see. His dreams had gone on overdrive, with vivid flashes that seemed so familiar, yet unknown. His mind had shown him memories, visions of lives past. Lives as alien to him as some of the others in his ship were in comparison to humanity._

_Lives he had taken._

_For once, he was glad to see the quiet expanse of the White._

_"Commander."_

_He looked around, feeling both nostalgic and wary as a human approached. "Commander?"_

_"Remember who you are."_

_Commander John Shepard. Human Systems Alliance. First human Spectre. Hero of Elysium. Savior of the Citadel. Born the 11th of April, 2154 on Mindoir. Died the 20th of July, 2183 near Alchera._

_Tali._

_Reborn the first of August, 2185 aboard a Cerberus station._

_"Kaiden?"_

_The man smiled. "That's right. I need you to focus now. Remember."_

_He stands on Aeia, the man in front of him holding a gun. The man yells in defiance, the pistol pointing at the men behind him._

_"I... Reaved him."_

_Kaiden nodded. "Why?"_

_"He was going to hurt them."_

_"No."_

_"No?"_

_The dead soldier grabbed his shoulder. "All it would have taken was a Pull, or a Throw. You Reaved him." He shook his head. "Humans aren't asari. Our minds aren't meant to hold so many memories."_

_Memories? Jacob? Son?_

_Guilt._

_Failure._

_Disgrace._

_"Snap out of it!" He felt the sting of a slap across his face. "Hold on to who you are!"_

_Commander John Shepard. Human Systems Alliance. First human Spectre._

_"That's better. If nothing else, remember this: Animal minds are simple, and Reapers all force the same non-existence on husks, so they're fine. But don't Reave sentients who are still whole unless you have to."_

_"I won't."_

_"Remember it, Shepard, or you might wake up someone you're not."_

John dropped out of the White, the soft light of the aquarium casting a bluish glow across his cabin. He slowly sat up, trying to make sense of the dream.

_It was all a haze. Then something in the White._

He checked his chrono. _We're still three hours out. Maybe I should start getting ready, go down to the armory-_ His thoughts drifted to the man who kept the squad's weapons in working order.

_Jacob._

_Guilt._

_Fail- __**NO!**_

It all flooded back at once, the memories of his most recent trip to the White, the visions that had plagued him in his sleep. Memories and realities tore at his mind, making him feel as if the room around him was just another illusion. He could remember Kaiden's concerned look, the slap as he jogged the commander's senses.

"Commander John Shepard. Human Systems Alliance. First human Spectre."

It stopped.

_Jacob?_

He could see the Cerberus soldier in his mind's eye. A comrade-in-arms, a friend and ally.

Not his son.

_The Eclipse?_

A merc band, full of biotic and tech experts. He didn't know any of its members personally.

Shepard breathed a sigh of relief, heading to the elevator to get breakfast.

_I won't forget it again, Kaiden._

* * *

"Good morning, brother."

Tas and Firn stood side by side at the ship's prow, both looking at the waves as the sun peeked out from under the horizon from behind them. Tas barely caught a murmur from Firn. "So today's the day."

"Yes," the navigator replied. "Based on my calculations, we should reach where the island was within the next few hours. Judging by the position of the moon, the eclipse shouldn't be too long afterward."

"That isn't what I meant," the archer replied in a hushed tone. "After today, we'll be relying on fish for the rest of the trip. I hope we find what you're looking for, brother."

"We'll know where to go soon enough."

The two stood there for over an hour, the clear and calm day not being a threat to their course. Tikkun glowed high in the sky, though the moon, Ilasca, was right behind it.

"Tas!"

The navigator and his brother looked behind, seeing Draam and Alarei walking up from belowdecks. "Tas, we may have a problem."

"According to his men," Alarei replied, rolling her eyes. "I say a hot bath would be good for them.

"Alarei..." Tas replied, his voice chastising.

She turned and walked away, hands raised in surrender. "Just a suggestion, Captain Bosh'tet."

"You were saying, Draam?"

"The waters here are much hotter than usual," the Idennan continued. "It's gotten to the point that you could slow-cook a dhelka in the lower decks."

"Damn it," Firn murmured. "We're already in a bad enough state without adding dehydration to the mix. We should turn around, stay in cooler waters."

"Belay that." The other two looked at Tas as if he was insane, but he paid no notice. "We should furl the sails, be ready to drop the anchor."

"And why is that," his brother asked. To their astonishment, Tas drew his sword, tying his realk into a knot around its hilt. "Brother, what are you-"

Tas threw the weapon into the scalding water, gripping tightly to his realk with both hands. Even through the fabric he'd covered the grip with, he could feel the heat seeping through its threads and threatening to burn his palms. When he could take no more, he tugged on it, hauling the blade back aboard the ship. "Keelah," he breathed.

The weapon had been crusted over, its blade coated with a reddish-brown substance. Careful not to touch the hot object with his bare hands, Draam chipped at the coating with his own dagger. A thin sliver of rusted metal flaked off of the larger blade.

"What's wrong?" Alarei asked, interested in the commotion. "And why did you ruin a perfectly good sword?"

Draam laughed as a smile came to Tas's face. "It means we're here."

The Neeman soldier was perplexed. "I don't see a mythical land of bounty."

As she spoke, the space around them began to darken. Tas responded, the grin still lingering as he cast his eyes skyward. "It means we're where we need to be."

Ilasca had begun to cover Tikkun, stealing the light from the sky as it overtook the fiery orb. Tas pointed in the air, barely containing his excitement. "The cross should be directly overhead, which means the Mother would be right... there." He swiveled his arm, pointing at an expanse of empty sky.

Alarei squinted, searching for something she missed. "I don't see anything."

The four of them searched the region around where Tas had indicated, but the minutes began to tick by as Ilasca drifted over Tikkun. Draam said nothing, his own head drooping. Firn stepped up alongside his brother. "It's okay, Tas. We'll have to find another way... Maybe the Famine will be over by the time we get back?"

"No. We wait."

Firn gave Alarei a pleading look, and the soldier walked up to the navigator. "Look, Bo- _Tas_... If we can't find anything here, we'll have to turn back."

"But we can't give up."

"No..." she breathed. "We can't give up on Neema. But we can't give up on ourselves either. We'll die if we don't reach shore soon, but I guarantee I'll make sure Neema doesn't die without a fight."

Tas shook his head. "And what about Idenna? Should we give up on them, too?" Draam raised his head, surprise at the Neeman's words evident from the look on his face. "We're not the only ones who are depending on this. They need this as well."

Alarei's gaze flitted between the navigator and her Idennan counterpart, unsure what to make of Tas's words. At the look on Draam's face, she began to laugh. "Someday, I'd like to see this world you live in, Bosh'tet."

Tas tore his gaze away from the sky, murmuring so only Alarei could hear. "I'd like that."

The woman forced her own eyes skyward. She gasped, her eyes widening. "That wasn't there before!"

The others all looked up, a glimmering spot glowing faintly in the dim light of the eclipse. Another star began to glow out of the darkness after it, then another.

"Well I'll be damned," Firn mumbled, "an invisible constellation."

"And they're all following a straight line," Draam added, tracing the path above them.

It was Tas's turn to laugh, his voice ringing in the still air as he ran to the ship's stern. He took the helm, spinning the wheel to change their heading. "Loose the sails, gentlemen. Let's follow those stars!"

Alarei, back at the bow with the others, snorted with laughter.

"Couldn't the bosh'tet have said it without sounding so corny?"

* * *

"I didn't know that word existed in Khelish."

"Well, the original word doesn't translate well. Figured I'd throw in something you'd understand."

_"Miss Goto and Miss Zorah."_

Kasumi and Tali sat a little straighter on the couch, turning to where the AI's hologram had appeared in the observation deck. The quarian was the first to respond. "Yes, EDI?"

_"We have docked at the Citadel. Commander Shepard has requested that the two of you accompany him on the ground team."_

Kasumi watched her friend's reaction, looking for any signs of hesitation or unease. To her surprise, however, the engineer showed neither. "We'll be at the airlock in five minutes."

As the quarian stood up and walked toward the door, the thief could've sworn one of the woman's steps had included a slight bounce. She smiled.

_Now that's progress._

* * *

Shepard stepped out of the aircar and into the throng of bodies surrounding Teyseri Ward's security station. Garrus kept in-step with the soldier, his stride building into a purposeful march. However, the human came to an abrupt stop before the C-Sec checkpoint, eliciting a growl from his turian counterpart.

"What are we stopping for, Shepard? Every second we waste is another chance for this bastard to get away."

"Thane's talking to one of his contacts about his son's hit. And besides, we need to wait for Kasumi and Tali to get here before we-"

The turian pressed an elbow to the Spectre's chest, pinning him to a wall and surprising an alliance drill sergeant and his recruits. Garrus's voice rumbled in his ear as their eyes locked. "There are ten people in unmarked graves on that godforsaken asteroid because of Sidonis. He's already escaped once, and I'll be damned if he walks again."

John could see the officer at customs reach under her desk from the corner of his vision, but he waved her down. _I hope it wasn't a mistake to bring him here._ He took a slow breath, making sure the former C-Sec detective could hear it as well. "We'll get him, Garrus, but Thane's son is a priority as well. If anything, I'm sure he would help track down Sidonis. Besides, going without backup is just going to get you killed."

Garrus snarled his displeasure, but broke his gaze as he stepped away. "Fine, we'll wait. But Fade's my only lead on him. It's already been hell setting up a meeting with the guy."

Shepard took a step toward the officer's desk, prepared to explain the incident away with his Spectre status before Garrus could get hauled off for disturbing the peace. A shadow moved from within the crowd, catching his eye and halting his advance. "I think we won't have to wait too long."

Sure enough, his comm buzzed in his ear. _"By the Blasto adspace. Too many witnesses in customs."_

He got the turian's attention with a short whistle, and the two of them made their way to the named billboard. Thane came out from around a corner soon after, his grey-black suit blending in with the low-level lighting. An additional sound of footsteps announced the arrival of the last two members of the ground team.

"Just touched down and saw you walking away," Kasumi explained. "What did we miss?"

_A pissed-off turian._ He didn't mention Garrus's transgression aloud though. Thankfully, neither did Thane.

"Mouse didn't know the identity of Kolyat's target, but he gave me the name of the man who hired him. Elias Kelham, a human crime boss on Teyseri Ward. We need to find him soon, the hit's supposed to happen sometime today."

"Sounds like we came here just in time," the Spectre thought aloud. "We should contact Bailey for any intel, then spread out. See if we can-"

"With all due respect, Shepard, that option's out of the question."

Everyone's eyes shot to Garrus. The turian had been leaning against the wall, arms folded and head down. "My meeting with Fade's supposed to happen in just over an hour. If I'm not there, the lead dries up and Sidonis walks. Besides, I've heard of Kelham. Bastard tended to bribe anyone he could, and we never figured out how high his influence went. We don't have time to play hide-and-seek with him."

"Even so, we must try." The drell's typically-pensive facade had hardened, his dark eyes cold. "Shepard's a Spectre, outside C-Sec influence. Bailey will have to respect that, even if he can only give provisional support."

Garrus let out a low growl. "This is my one chance to take out the bastard who betrayed my squad. I won't have you take this away from me, Thane."

"And we have a chance to stop my son from becoming a killer." The drell's voice had chilled, the warm warble replaced by grinding ice. "He may not be strong enough to awaken from his battle sleep on his own. I may not have been there for him previously, but I cannot stand aside and let him fall into dissonance just because he found out about my profession."

The turian stepped forward. "Well whose fault is-"

"ENOUGH!"

Shepard stepped between the two men, his arms held out to keep them from advancing on each other. "Thane, you'll need me to get Bailey's help, so I'm going with you."

The turian's eyes shot open in alarm. "But, Commander-"

"Garrus," he interrupted, as if the man hadn't spoken, "Will need backup in case things get hairy in the meeting with Fade. I'm sending Tali and Kasumi with you. Once you've gotten Sidonis's location, AND Thane's son has been stopped, we'll link up to get him." The human fixed the turian in a glare as his hand pressed harder against his blue-armored chest. "Are we clear?"

"Understood," Thane replied.

"Crystal," came Garrus's strained answer.

"Good," the human replied, fishing a credit chit out of his pocket. "Put the taxi ride on my account. I'm hoping we won't need to grab a second one."

Garrus grunted and took the chit as he marched off to the aircars marked for public use. Kasumi was hot on his tail, but Shepard held out a hand to stop Tali from following. The quarian looked between the turian and human for a moment, confused.

"I thought you said I was going with Garrus."

"You are," John replied, his breath pouring out in a slow exhale to calm himself. "I'm worried about him, though. He's acting like Zaeed."

Her head cocked slightly to the side. "I don't follow you."

"Before you came aboard, Zaeed had us on a mission to track down and kill his former partner, Vido Santiago. He was reckless, and set a factory on fire in the process of chasing him down. I made the call to save the workers instead of following Vido. Vido got away, and I was lucky to talk Zaeed down enough to stick with our mission. He doesn't let it bother him as much nowadays, but I know he still dreams of taking down the guy."

He shook his head, casting a sad look in the turian's direction. "He's let his obsession with revenge rule his life, and I don't want to see it happen with Garrus, too."

The quarian nodded. "That sounds terrible. But what do you want me to do? I doubt he'll let anyone get in his way if it's as bad as you say."

He took hold of one of her hands. "I know, but try not to let him do anything he'll regret. For me."

"I will," she promised with a voice of determination as she looked into his eyes. The orbs drifted downward, and he heard a squeak of surprise as she looked at her hand. Tali gently pulled away, her eyes suddenly downcast as she twiddled her thumbs. She shifted her weight back and forth, as if some massive debate was going on within the darkened mask.

"Tali?" Her head shot back up. "Is there something you wanted to say?"

"I, ah..."

Her eyes flashed to his face, then drifted back downwards.

"I..."

Her voice choked up a little, and she shook her head. "Just stay safe, John. For me." Her eyes widened for a moment, and she made an exaggerated coughing sound. "And the rest of the crew," she amended, quickly looking away.

"I will," he said with a smirk, though she didn't look up. As she nodded and began to turn around, an idea sprung into his head.

"Keelah se'lai, Tali."

The quarian froze, her head whipping back toward him at the sound of the Khelish saying. Her eyes and stance softened, something he hadn't seen in days.

"Keelah se'lai, John."

She continued to walk away, and the drell began walking toward the customs desk. As he followed Thane to the security checkpoint that would open to Bailey's office, one thought stuck in Shepard's mind.

_It's nice to see her smiling again._

* * *

_Applause?_

_It had been ages since he'd heard the sound, but it was far from unwelcome as he strode into the building. Ten people, arrayed across the living space, had come down all at once, glasses of various beverages close at hand as they clapped, cheered, or (in Krul's case) grinned approvingly with a rare hum that didn't signal murderous intent. For a moment, he even forgot about the fatigue that had been plaguing him for the past few days. A rough laugh escaped his maw as a burly human stepped forward, his glass held high in the air._

_"To Garrus, for finally taking down that volus extortionist, Har Urek. The Eclipse has lost their best racketeer on this station tonight, and shopkeepers can rest easier knowing their wares will never again be booby-trapped by the bastard. Hear-hear!"_

_A chorus of cheers and tinkling glasses sang in the open-aired living space as they toasted him. His own laughter, now greased with a mouthful of brandy, joined them as he swelled with pride. All of his squad had worked themselves to the bone lately, but the results were astounding; even his former C-Sec allies would be shocked at their progress. The weapons smuggler who played both the Blue Suns and the Blood Pack for fools, the Blue Suns' most notorious non-batarian slaver, a quarian serial killer, an Eclipse dealer who functioned as the head of one of the largest red sand distribution networks in the terminus, and now an elusive Eclipse saboteur had all fallen within the past two months._

_At this point, I'm even liking my odds for a rematch against Garm._

_He shook his head as he chuckled at the thought- the krogan had taken enough punishment to put down half a platoon and still kept charging back when they had last met._

_We're doing the impossible... We've actually made a difference on Omega, of all places._

_I hope you're proud, Shepard._

_He cleared his throat, lifting his own glass a little higher. "I can't take all the credit for this one, though."_

_The voices around the room hushed as heads turned toward him. Their leader. Their moral compass. Their savior._

_The Archangel._

_"As most of you know, I'd have put a bullet in the guy and been done with it. But that wouldn't have been right. Not after what happened to Sensat's family."_

_Heads bowed in respect for the drell, who croaked back a response. "He made sure the gas would kill them slowly. A quick death wouldn't be just in this case."_

_"Agreed," he hummed, directing their attention toward the garage door. "Which is why I'd like to recognize the real man of the hour."_

_Right on cue, the portal opened, admitting a second (and possibly even more surprised) turian._

_"Asphyxiation due to an envirosuit malfunction. This man thought up what I have to say is the best example of poetic retribution I've ever seen. To the man who sabotaged the saboteur: Lantar Sidonis!"_

_"To Lantar!"_

_"Hear, hear!"_

"We're here."

Garrus's eyes popped open to find himself the sole remaining person in the aircar. He looked out the open door, where the girls were standing: Tali looking uneasy about something as she glanced between him and something out of sight, and Kasumi frantically waving with a smirk on her face. "Didn't take you for someone who'd sleep on the job, Gare."

The turian growled softly as he pulled himself out of the car, taking in his surroundings. They were in the middle of a large marketplace, shops and restaurants stretching for several units in all directions. He followed the quarian's gaze to a squat building, the only one in sight left untouched by neon or glass. A simple (unlit) sign served as its only identification above a spartan entryway: Commercial Storage Warehouse 2319.

"This looks like the place," he acknowledged. He discreetly checked his pistol, making sure the armor-piercing mod he had acquired from one of his contacts was working properly. _In case I can't go for the bastard's head._

He felt a three-fingered touch at his elbow, bringing him back to earth. _No, I can't go in looking for a fight._ He relaxed his stance, trying to look more collected. The turian led the group through the doorway.

The interior of the building was just as unremarkable as the outside, a pair of folding chairs along a wall signifying that it was supposed to be a waiting area. Unlike most waiting rooms, however, its walls were made entirely from storage crates. A table was set up on the opposite "wall", a human sitting behind the makeshift desk and sipping coffee as he played a game on his omni-tool. He hurriedly shut it off as the three of them entered -one of them invisible- and cast a wary eye over Garrus. The guard appeared to relax as he noticed the quarian standing behind him, his mind clearly jumping to conclusions from her stance. The human cleared his throat.

"Can I help you?"

The turian spoke, allowing some of the edge into his voice to give some credibility. "I'm in need of some paint."

"Trelik's home improvement emporium is three units over." The human's tone signified that he wasn't simply shooing them away, however.

"I found their selection lacking. Besides, that stuff doesn't last very long. I need some clear-coat so things don't fade away."

The human nodded, satisfied. "You must be the three-o'clock." He jabbed a thumb over his shoulder, toward a gap in the boxes. "Go straight back. Take the third right, then the next left. Follow the path to the end."

Garrus nodded, walking past the desk. As they followed the human's directions, the quarian moved a little closer to him.

"Are you alright?"

"I will be soon."

"You weren't sleeping."

The turian growled, but didn't comment.

"I just don't want to see you doing anything... rash."

"_He_ isn't going to be here, and I doubt the man I came here for is, either."

Her voice was hushed. "A trap?"

"No, not good for business. He probably deals through contacts, like your friend from Chora's Den."

His words earned him a swift elbow to the chest, but she didn't pursue the subject any further as they walked through the maze of shipping crates. Eventually, they came upon a dead-end area, a table with five chairs left unattended in front of them.

"You requested *wheeze* my services?"

Garrus suppressed the urge to draw his gun as he heard the voice from behind him. He spun to find a volus, flanked by a pair of krogan. _My contact said he was a human._ "Fade... not quite how I imagined you."

"Looks *Wheeze* can be deceiving." The squat alien gestured toward the table. "Shall we get down to business?"

He nodded, and both turian and quarian sat in two of the seats. The volus followed, his waddling gait much slower than the others. His bodyguards, however, stood at by their seats. Garrus noted, however, that they trained their eyes not at the two "customers", but at the path they had come from.

_Volus for business, krogan to show strength and the ability to protect. Not bad._

The volus leaned over the table, his hands clasped together. "So, *Wheeze* you want to disappear?"

The turian gripped his gun under the table. "I'd rather see you make someone reappear."

Krogan and volus alike bristled at his words, but the two guards attempted to look like they hadn't heard him. Clearly, their job was just to look the part. The volus, however, struggled to control his easily-audible breathing. "*Wheeze* That's not *Wheeze* the service we provide. *Wheeze*"

Garrus drew his pistol. "Make an exception, just this once." Beside him, Tali drew her own firearm. The turian could tell that her grunt was one of displeasure toward him, but he had no desire to tell the volus that.

"Dammit. *Wheeze* Quick! Shoot th-"

One of the guards simply stood there in shock, but the other began to lift his weapon. Garrus felt the pistol buck in his hand twice, the armor piercing shots going clean through its skull and eliciting a squeak from a shadow behind it. A human phased into visibility, her cloak dropping as some blood landed on her suit. Her fist was raised, punching at air formerly occupied by the fallen krogan. Quick as lightning, she recovered, drawing her SMG and pointing it toward the remaining guard. She shot a quick pout at the turian instead of firing, however.

The remaining krogan slowly placed his weapon on the table, glancing nervously between the three armed assailants. "I don't want any trouble."

"Get moving," the turian grunted, focusing back on the volus. He heard a scampering of heavy feet and the sound of weapons being holstered as the alien fled.

"Why do I even bother? *Wheeze*"

Garrus could feel a flash of anger at the creature. He was a delay, a road block keeping him from reaching his objective. Before he could speak, however, Tali found her voice.

"We need to find a client of yours." She glared at her squadmate. "For your sake, I'd suggest you cooperate."

The volus squealed in terror. "Wait! *Wheeze* I'm not the one *Wheeze* you want to talk to. *Wheeze* I'm not Fade!"

_I knew it._ He rose to his feet, flipping the table out of the way as he crossed the short distance to the contact. The turian stooped down to his eye level, pointing it toward the impostor's neck. "Then maybe you'd like to tell us where to find him."

"*Wheeze* Y-yes, yes of course. *Wheeze* He's in the factory district. *Wheeze* Works out of the old Greenwich Prefab foundry."

_A human company- that sounds better._ Garrus rose to his feet, pocketing his gun. "I know the place, it's on Kithoi Ward. We'll need to grab another taxi."

The volus, realizing that nobody was pointing a gun anymore, decided to test the waters. "Um... *Wheeze* Can I go?"

"Depends..." the turian growled. "Is the information good?"

The squat creature held its breath, but frantically nodded.

"Let's hope it stays that way."

* * *

Shepard quietly stood by a wall as Thane paced in front of him. The human made no attempt to stop him, barely resisting the urge to join in the nervous act.

_I don't blame him. It's already been over an hour. I wonder how much longer it'll take to-_

The door opened, a pair of officers dragging in a human wearing what looked like a particularly expensive suit. They passed by the duo, moving into one of the rooms further down the hall. No sooner had the door closed behind them than did the door open once more, admitting a familiar face.

"It wasn't easy, but we got Kelham in here for you," Captain Armando Bailey said, nodding as the other two officers returned from the room. "He'll be expecting me to get him out of this."

Thane's hand twitched, but he masked it by folding his arms behind his back. "Not today, I think."

Bailey raised a hand to his ear, clearly getting a communique. "Damn it."

"Something wrong?" Shepard asked.

"His lawyer's already here. I'll stall him, but you have to do what you need to now." The officer abruptly left, sprinting to head off the named attorney.

"We don't have much time, Shepard." The drell gestured to the door, and they began walking down the hall. "We should work together, keep the pressure on. Your thoughts on how we approach it?"

_Kolyat could be making his move right now, for all we know._ "We'll need to break him fast. Only surefire way to do that is to put the fear of God in him." He stopped by the door, noting the state of the man on the other side through a two-way mirror next to the entrance. He appeared to be mildly bruised, but otherwise unharmed as he yelled words they couldn't hear from outside. He was, however, restrained on a table. _At least that'll help with the illusion._

He took a deep breath, then continued. "Convince him we'll put a bullet in his head if he doesn't talk. Once he's scared, he'll cooperate."

Thane nodded. "Very well. I'll pretend we're ready to kill him. We can't push too hard though, we need the information more than we need a corpse." He touched the interface, opening the door.

"-of these restraints, Bailey!" Elias looked over to the door as the two entered the room. Thane took a stance in front of the human, cracking his knuckles before standing at attention. Shepard moved behind, taking a more relaxed stance by the wall.

"Who the hell are you two?"

He cleared his throat, stepping into better view of the prisoner. "My name's Shepard. I'm a Spectre."

"Ha, pr-" The man's aloof image fell as the name registered. "Shepard? THE Shepard? The one from the vids? But you're dead!"

He shrugged. "I got better. Question is, do you think you will?" He calmly drew his pistol, making a point of brushing some dust off the weapon's housing as he held it in the air. "You're here because you know something, and I can do anything I want to get you to spill. Do you know what'll happen if you come out worse for the wear? What your lawyer will be able to do?"

Elias gulped. "No..."

Shepard fixed him with a stare. "Not a damn thing. Are we clear?"

"Crystal."

"Good." Shepard put away his weapon, folding his arms. "Fortunately, it's not you I'm after."

"Oh, thank Go-"

"You contracted an assassin," the commander continued, ignoring the interruption. "I want to know who the target is."

The man looked away with a scowl. "Joram Talid, turian. He's an anti-human politician, lives in the 800 blocks."

Thane caught John's eye, and tilted his head toward the door. He nodded, and the two started walking away. "Thanks. Stay on the up-and-up, and maybe you won't see us again."

As the door closed behind them with a solid snap, the two of them exhaled. The drell suppressed a laugh, prompting the commander's attention.

"What's so funny?"

"That may go down in history as the second-shortest interrogation ever."

"Sorry," the Spectre said with a shrug. "I must be a little out of practice."

* * *

"Garrus, wait!"

As soon as the vehicle had settled down, the door had popped open. Before the engine had even spun down, the turian had leapt out of the driver's seat.

_Keelah, how am I supposed to get to him?_

Tali climbed out of the aircar after him, her hand resting on the handle of the shotgun at her hip. She soon spotted her quarry, marching toward the factory's back entrance.

_At least he's not in a firefight yet._ She sprinted after him, an echo in the sound of her footsteps the only sign of the thief that made the tail end of the group. She caught up with Garrus just as the turian rounded a corner.

And nearly ran into the group of mercs right in front of the entrance.

"They haven't seen us, yet," Tali hissed, hoping her vocalizer was set low enough. "We should let Kasumi take care of it, or just look for another-"

"Harkin... or is it Fade now?"

Garrus stepped forward, ignoring Tali. A human amidst the group jumped at the flanging voice, turning nervously toward the speaker. A spark of recognition glimmered in his eyes as half a dozen hands went to hips around the area. "Garrus?"

_Damn it._

The quarian drew her shotgun, following the turian around the corner.

Tali swept her eyes around the area, a narrow space right in front of a doorway. _Blue Suns? I thought they were unwelcome outside the Terminus._ Thankfully, none of them had raised their weapons yet, looking nervously between the two former C-Sec officers and the quarian wielding a plasma shotgun. As the seconds dragged on, she began to realize that the only reason they hadn't fired was because they didn't know what her weapon would do.

_Keelah, saved by geth tech... What would Father think?_

She kept her weapon pointed in the mercs' direction as Garrus and Harkin stared each other down. The tension was palpable as the two hovered their hands over their weapons. Tali couldn't tell which was louder, the sound of her breathing, amplified ever so slightly by her mask, or the sound of a salarian merc's heartbeat from several meters away. The two former officers didn't dare to breathe, as if the air between them was toxic.

Silence settled in.

_Just a few more moments, and Kasumi can-_

A freighter took off from down the street, the sound of its engines piercing the silence like a bullet through toilet paper. The group collectively flinched, eyes moving involuntarily toward the source of the sound.

**Bang!**

Tali jumped at the sound, momentarily lifting the nose of her weapon away from the mercs.

"Don't just stand there- Stop them!"

The quarian dove behind a crate to her left, just as several weapons started firing in her direction. The staccato clamor of weapons fire violently crashed down on her. She waited for a lull, the telltale clink of an overloaded heat sink being dropped on the ground before taking a peek.

One of the mercs had already been downed, and another fell victim to Garrus's pistol before the turian took cover. The other four mercs had bunkered down, while she barely caught sight of Harkin sprinting away before the doorway shut behind him. "Run all you want, Harkin!" Garrus called as he switched to his vindicator. "We'll find you!"

A merc tumbled out from behind a crate, grunting as he sprawled on the ground. Tali ended him with a ball of plasma. She ducked back down, shots ringing off the metal case she'd taken refuge behind. [i]Thanks, Kasumi.[/i] The thief, however, clearly wasn't done yet.

"Peek-a-boo!"

"What the- Gah!"

"Watch out, she's cloaked!"

Garrus and Tali worked as one, dishing out death as two mercs scrambled away from the human that had appeared in their midst. The sixth one was ignored, already knocked out cold by Kasumi's surprise attack.

"All clear, Gare!"

The quarian stepped out into the open, making sure to meet the turian before he marched through the factory door. "Stop right there!"

He huffed, his eyes towering over her. "We're on a schedule, Tali. Harkin isn't going to wait for us."

"No, but he is going to ambush us if you keep rushing off like this."

Garrus gave a harsh harrumph, trying to push his way past her. She stood her ground, her hand on his chestplate. "Damn it, Garrus, you're better than this!"

The turian stopped, his eyes boring their way into her visor. Tali pushed her advantage. "He sent us with you to keep you alive. What do you think would have happened if I didn't have my shotgun drawn already when you yelled at Harkin?"

He looked away, his mandibles making an audible click as he thought it over. He shook his head, then stood straight. "Tali, form up on the door. Kasumi, be ready with a flashbang. I want a drone in there as soon as they're done yelping. We're going in quick and dirty. Breach on my mark."

The quarian nodded and went into position. Garrus took the other side of the doorway, the hand holding his rifle hovering over the door control as Kasumi stood back with the grenade ready. His other hand was raised in a silent countdown.

_Now that's better._

He made a fist, and hit the switch.

* * *

_A photograph. Brown plates. Paler near the nose. Barefaced. White suit, likely custom. Single stripe down the front. He asks if I could recognize the man. It will suffice._

"There he is."

Thane barely tilted his head in the direction of his target, careful not to tip the turian off. "That's Joram Talid."

He saw the Spectre in front of him nod, barely registering the motion as he focused on the reflection in the human's eyes. "How do you want to play this?" the human asked.

Thane searched the turian's immediate vicinity in the reflection, analyzing the possible approaches. _The crowd is too thin here for me to stay close; that bodyguard's too vigilant. I'll have to keep my distance. Still, the ceilings are open..._

He blinked. "Follow Talid from the maintenance catwalks up above. Tell me what he's doing. His krogan bodyguard will make him easy to follow."

"The Blood Pack logo does stand out," Shepard noted. "Where will you be?"

The assassin shut his eyes. "The darkest corner with the best view."

He was dimly aware of the commander's footsteps as the human left. He softly began to murmur, his breaths measured.

"Amonkira, Lord of Hunters..."

_Strong winds. Moisture on my face. It always rains on Kahje._

"Grant that my hands be steady, my aim be true, and my feet swift."

_Her face slips under. The waves wash over her form. Soon, there is no trace left of Irikah on the water's surface._

"And should the worst come to pass..."

_He shrinks away from my touch. Yells. Accusations. Blame._

_All of it deserved._

"...grant me forgiveness."

* * *

_The other turian accepted a bottle from him, surprise still evident on his face. The man eventually mirrored his visage, smiling back at the group._

_But it doesn't reach his eyes._

_His own grin melted off as the others echoed his toast, their cheers quickly dissolving into a din of talk and music as the celebration got underway. He gestured, motioning toward a door on the opposite side of the room. The other nodded. They walked in, the door closing with a quiet whoosh._

_"What's wrong, Lantar?"_

_The other sat on a chair, talons drumming restlessly on a knee. "It's... something big."_

_He pulls up his own seat. "How big? Did you find Garm?"_

_"No..."_

_He waited._

_And waited._

_"What did you find, Sid?"_

_The other turned his head away. "Sorry, I had to so something I didn't want to in order to get the info."_

_A flash of memory. A burst of sound. The bullets would have been enough. The exploding gas tank, however..._

_He clears his throat. "Was it like Harga, the slaver?"_

_"Not so explosive..." He finally looked up at his leader, still waiting. His head bowed once more. A deep breath and a nod. "Anyway, I found the location of a weapons stockpile. A primary armory, belongs to one of the Big Three. Blue Suns, if the intel's good."_

_His eyes widened. "This is huge... We could effectively kill off half of their ops all at once." A smile began to spread across his face. "I should round up the others immediately. I'll need Butler, Krul. Vortash, of course- never know what sort of security net these mercs are going to use next."_

_"NO!"_

_He stopped, his ramble cut off as the other turian's eyes glared at him. "No. We should recon the area first."_

_"Okay... We'll get together with Mierin and Melanis tomorrow, set up a grid. They'll cover the ground while we watch from above."_

_Still, the other turian shook his head. He sounded exasperated. "We can't wait that long, Garrus. For all we know, they could leave tomorrow."_

_He got out of his own chair, reaching to his second-in-command's shoulder. "Do you really believe they'll be gone that soon?"_

_The seated turian stared at his own talons, which had just stopped their drumming. "Yes. I'm almost certain they will be."_

_"Alright," he conceded, standing erect once more. "Mierin and Melanis will have had too much to drink already, so they won't be available. I trust I'll still have you watching my blind spots?"_

_"Don't I always?" A nervous laugh. What did he have to do to get the info? "Of course I'll come with you."_

Garrus strode across the small office, hitting a switch to open a window. Through the glass, he could see a small storage warehouse, full of crates stacked at various elevations.

_A lot of cover. And a couple of choke points as well._ He was disrupted from his assessment by a slightly-distorted voice.

"So, I take it Harkin wasn't exactly a model officer."

"Understatement of the decade," the turian scoffed. "Drinking on the job, dealing under the table, messing around with all the wrong people. I say it's about time the man left the force. But I'm tired of chasing his ass down. If he doesn't cooperate, I'll just have to beat him within an inch of his life."

_And then I'm coming for you, Sidonis._

"You still seem a little... tense, Garrus."

He looked at the quarian this time. "Harkin may know why Sidonis wanted to disappear. If so, he knows why we're here, and I don't want to give him the chance to tip Sidonis off."

_Lots of high ground. If Harkin's guys aren't using it already, it would be a big help._

"Kasumi," Garrus barked, "try to get to the top of one of those stacks of crates. Stay cloaked if you can. 'Nades and overloads onl-"

A shadow moved near the peak of one of the metal mountains.

His reaction was instant, drilled into his instincts by years of service, both with the Hierarchy and C-Sec. The turian dived to the ground under the window, wary of snipers.

"Did you see that?" the thief whispered over the comms, already invisible.

"I saw something," the turian replied, cautiously sliding past the window. "We need to move now, before they finish getting ready."

"Got it, Gare," Kasumi answered, the door to the warehouse seemingly opening of its own accord. "I'll wait for your signal."

Before Garrus could follow her, however, he felt a three-fingered hand on his shoulder. "And what if Harkin doesn't want to come quietly?"

He shrugged off the hand. "He's a real criminal now, Tali. We _should_ just shoot him on sight. But I need him alive, so I won't do anything permanent, so long as he's reasonable."

"And Sidonis? Are you still going to kill him?"

_He sits next to the balcony, his last crate of water bottles close by._

_How long has it been since I got back? Hours? Days?_

_He shakes his head, trying to clear out the thoughts. There was no future for him, he knew that. But he still had now._

_A deep breath. The soft pressure of the scope against the plates around his eye._

_He sees a turian leading the next wave. A part of him knew that the man's orange clan-paint wasn't the mark of his former friend's colony._

_It didn't stop him from imagining that the merc had His face._

_He holds his breath, sighting on the skull of the one who betrayed him. The one who'd left them all to die._

_You're not getting away this time._

"That's the plan," he deadpanned. "It'll be quick and painless." The turian checked the heat capacity on his rifle's thermal clip as he continued. "Unlike everyone he betrayed, he'll be spared the agony of a slow death." _Half-full. That won't do._ He ejected the clip, reaching for a new one. "It's more than that scum deserves, but as long as he's dead-" The new clip slid into place with a solid click. "I'll be satisfied." He took a step toward the door, but the quarian evidently wasn't done yet.

"Are you sure that's what you really want, Garrus? Shepard thinks-"

"_He_ thinks? The man helped me kill Saleon two years ago, no questions asked. This is hardly any different."

"Saleon was still a threat to those around him, Garrus. I was on that ship with you. I saw what he did. You were obsessed, yes, but it wasn't as bad as right now." She stepped in front of him, blocking the door. "You're letting what happened with Sidonis get to you. You need to get past it."

The turian scoffed. "Hello, pot. I'm kettle."

"I'm serious, Garrus. You need to find a way to let it go."

A tense silence followed. The two stared each other down, only ending when the turian looked away. He roughly shouldered his way past her, his assault rifle held at the ready as he moved into the warehouse.

"I'll let go after I'm done pulling the trigger."

* * *

"Kolyat's on the move!"

Thane could see the other drell across the plaza, hand held to his blue-green forehead as he spun around. He began to sprint, but his son was already reaching for something in his jacket. He was still over twenty meters away from Kolyat. The boy, on the other hand, was right behind Talid and his bodyguard.

There was no way he would miss.

_Please, no-_

"KOLYAT!"

The young drell looked up toward the voice's source, the Spectre on the catwalks above. Unfortunately, so did Joram and his companion.

"Move it!" the krogan roared at his employer, turning to face the armed drell. Talid rushed into an apartment building, the door slowly closing behind him. The other alien placed his hulking form between the turian and Kolyat, drawing his shotgun.

The boy was faster, raising his pistol to his armed adversary. He fired.

Pop

_Kolyat..._

Pop

Pop

_Irikah, please forgive me._

Pop

Kolyat rushed by the crumpling bodyguard, replacing the thermal clip as he entered the apartment. Thane continued to run after his son, joined by Shepard as they passed the krogan's limp form.

_Sloppy. No vitals hit._

Thane shook his head. _What am I thinking?!_

They burst into the apartment. _Lights off. Panoramic window eight meters away, likely safety glass. Police lights visible. Two people standing by a chair in the center of the room. Turian, hands behind his head. Unarmed. Drell, armed with a predator pistol, pointing at the turian's head. Lamp two meters behind drell. Hallway four meters left. Possible emergency exit. Shepard covers it._

"Not a step closer, officers. You're going to get out of my way and-" The drell stole a glance around his hostage. "No..."

Thane stepped forward. He could hear the sound of several sets of feet scrambling outside, along with the unmistakable tones of several weapons activating. "Kolyat."

The boy shifted around Talid slightly, keeping the turian between himself and Shepard's gun. From his new position, the father could see the anger spreading across his face. "This can't- Now? Now you show up!"

"Help me, drell," Joram whimpered, his legs trembling. "I'll do whatever you want."

"Shut up!" Kolyat yelled, pressing his weapon into the back of Talid's skull. He stole another glance at his father. "This is sick. Do you think this is funny, do you?!"

"C-Sec," a voice called. Thane was dimly aware of Captain Bailey's entrance, along with four other officers. "Put the gun down, son."

"Get out of my way." Kolyat began to back away, trying to keep the turian between himself and the now numerous guns pointed his way. Even so, he was still defiant. "I'm walking out, and he's coming with me."

"Kolyat," Thane pleaded, stepping in front of one of the officers. "Stop this. They'll have snipers outside."

The other officers began to move around him, slowly advancing along the opposite side of the room from Shepard. The boy moved away again. "Why should I listen to you? You weren't there when I needed you- when WE needed you." He took another step backward. "I don't need your-"

Shepard fired, popping the light bulb on the lamp beside Kolyat. The drell jumped away, shielding his face from the flying glass. "What the hell-"

The boy glowed a light blue color, his speech cut off midsyllable. One of the officers moved in, taking away his pistol while he was frozen in place.

"Nice Stasis, Denari," Bailey commented, nodding at another officer. The named asari put away her weapon, quietly leading Talid out of the room. "Take the boy into custody." The others swarmed around Kolyat, putting him in cuffs as soon as the biotic freeze wore off. The boy struggled as he regained his senses, but it was to no avail.

"Dammit! It's all because of you!" He continued to roar at Thane as the officers moved him toward the entrance. "You son of a bitch!"

Shepard stood next to Thane as the boy came closer, his gun holstered. He waved the officers down, checking with Bailey that it was okay. When the captain nodded, he spoke. "Your father doesn't have much time left, Kolyat. He's trying to make up for his mistakes."

"What?" he yelled back, wrenching a shoulder away from one of the officers. The others quickly reaffirmed their hold, stopping him from escaping. "So you came to get my forgiveness? So you can die in peace or something?"

Thane closed his eyes. _The words roll off his tongue. I find none of my own. My spirit writhes. What could I have said?_

"I came to grant you peace, something I never found for myself." He exhaled, looking at the furious face of his son. "You're angry because I wasn't there when your mother died."

"You weren't there when she was alive!" he spat. "Why should you have been there when she died? When they forced me to watch her do it?"

"It was my fault. They killed her to get to me."

Kolyat's eyes widened. "What?"

"After her body was broken, I hunted them. The trigger men, the conspirators, the informants. I hurt them, eventually killed them. When I returned to Kahje, you were... withdrawn, damaged. I should have been there. I shouldn't have let it change you like this."

The boy averted his eyes. "I guess it's too bad you waited so long, then."

"Kolyat, listen to me," he pleaded. "I've taken many things out of this galaxy, done things that made me wish I wasn't a drell. But you are the only good thing I've ever added to it. This is not the life I wanted you to live."

From behind him, Bailey cleared his throat. He motioned to the officers, telling them to take Kolyat away. "This isn't the sort of conversation you should have in front of strangers."

"But it's something that needs to be said." Thane watched as they put him in the back of a larger squad car, a transport vehicle.

"I'll let you two have a room and as much time as you need when you get back to the station. Let you clear the air."

"If I may, I'd like to do so sooner."

The officer raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"It's taken years for me to find the words that I should have said back when Irikah died... I don't want to wait a second longer than I have to." He turned toward the human. "If I may, I would like to ride with him."

"I'd have to confiscate your weapons," the man said. "And only Spectres and C-Sec can ride in the back without handcuffs."

Thane extended his arms, wrists up. "So be it."

* * *

_Keelah, I hope he starts listening soon._

"Tali, I need a diversion."

The quarian leaned out of cover, spraying several pistol shots at the squad of mechs slowly making their way up along their left flank. She flicked her omni-tool, and one of the mechs performed an about-face. A hail of fire came down from up ahead. Instead of hitting her and Garrus's cover, however, the shots landed near the hacked LOKI.

"Thanks, Tali," the turian replied, leaning over the cover with his sniper rifle. The weapon cracked once, a merc's head bursting into mist further up the stack of crates. "How many are left?" he asked, placing a finger to his visor as he ducked back down.

_"Just the mechs left, Gare,"_ Kasumi said over Tali's linked radio. _"I'll take care of them."_

A flash of blue sparks appeared in the midst of the humanoid mechs, the overload frying their circuits and shutting them down. Tali and Garrus advanced, climbing a series of raised platforms. From the highest one, they could see an office on the other side of the warehouse, a mirrored twin to the one they had entered from. Below stretched an open space with few cargo containers.

"I can see him," Garrus said, pointing at the office window. "Harkin's in there."

**"You won't get me that easy, Vakarian!"**

The platform they were standing on plummeted to ground level, leaving them at the edge of the killing field. A crane lowered from the ceiling, placing a large object on the ground in front of them.

"Unit online," a synthesized voice rumbled.

_Oh, Keelah. Not another-_

"YMIR!"

They fired, sending several rounds into the hulking mech as it unfolded into its combat stance. Its powerful shields flared as it brought its chainguns to bear. Tali dove behind the only crate that was nearby, sending an overload at the mech before its weapons spewed hundreds of chunks of metal at them at sublight speed.

"What's the plan, Garrus?" she asked, feeding new thermal clips into both of her weapons.

"I'm wishing I still had that missile launcher, for starters." The turian fired an overload of his own at the mech, then ducked back down. "We should be fine for now like this, though. Nice thing about these shipping crates is they're made to take a beating. Just stagger the fire for now and-"

"GARRUS, LOOK OUT!"

Tali pointed at the ceiling, where one of the cranes had snuck its way over the turian's head. It released its clamps, and another of the crates began to fall. He dove to the side, narrowly avoiding the plummeting object. To his dismay, however, he had moved out of cover. Tali heard a hiss as the YMIR pointed one of its arms at him.

"Kasumi, flashbang, now!"

A pair of explosions went off. One bathed the world in white light. The other sent a wave of heat and pressure at Tali from where the turian had been. She felt something slam into her, something hard and fairly solid. Her ears began to ring with fuzz. "-li. Tali. TALI!"

She shook her head, her vision clearing enough to see the turian in front of her. "Tali, can you hear me?"

"Yes, Garrus," she responded. The mech still stood where it had been, its pneumatic hissing audible.

"Visual matrix overloaded. Rebooting."

"Good. Kasumi, I want you to make yourself known. Throw everything you can at that mech. Keep the YMIR's attention, you're in the best position to fight it without getting hurt."

_"Got it, Gare. Kitchen sink loaded and primed."_

"Wh-" Tali sputtered. Garrus shook his head, muttering something that sounded suspiciously like "humans".

"Tali, Harkin's going to focus on us, since we're visible from that window. Think you can hack that crane?"

"Is that a serious question?" She looked skyward and pushed the turian away. "Move it!"

Another heavy crate fell between them, narrowly missing the two. The quarian could hear the YMIR's chainguns spinning in the background. "Target acquired."

"HyelonhyelonHYELON!" She sprinted around the crate, narrowly making it to the other side before gunshots pinged off the ground where she had been.

"Hey, Sparky!" Another overload hit the mech from above, along with a long burst of SMG fire. "Tag, you're it!"

"Threat assessment: New priority target."

The YMIR lumbered away, targeting the human atop the still-raised platforms. She cloaked as soon as its weapon started firing, reappearing on another platform several meters away.

"Tali, the crane!"

"Right. I'll need an access point, to get into the local network."

"It's not wireless?"

She checked her omni-tool, then closed it with a shake of her head. "None that I can find. They probably found it more resource-efficient to do without one."

A moment passed where the turian shook his head. "You know, not all races think about resources like quarians do."

"Credits are a resource, Garrus."

"Point." They scanned the walls, moving once to dodge another incoming crate, courtesy of Harkin. "Will that do?"

She looked in the direction he pointed. A switch panel for lights, as well as a set of controls for some unknown device were visible. "I guess we'll find out."

"You'll find out." Tali looked at him, surprised at his correction. "If we both go over, Harkin will get us while you're working. I have to keep his attention on me."

The quarian looked up, wary of any more falling objects. "Just stay alive, Garrus. I'm not going back on a promise I made to John."

The turian nodded, not bothering to ask what the promise was. "Wait three seconds, then go."

She tilted her head. "What do you mean by-"

He was already in motion, leaving the cover by the time she'd opened her mouth. "Hey, Harkin! I know I was always a better shot, but this is just pitiful."

**"Screw you, Garrus!"**

Tali took that as her cue, sprinting to the wall panel. _Let's see... Floor elevation controls... Climate controls... Lighting... Door controls... Crane operation!_ Unsurprisingly, the levers didn't respond to her touch. She brought up her omni-tool. _Simple lockdown protocol. Shouldn't take long._ She worked with the interface, smashing aside firewalls. _Should be working now. Just one more thing._

**"What the- Why won't this damn thing work?"**

_Perfect._ "He's locked out, Garrus," she said over the squad radio. "I have control of the crane."

_"Good. Now drop a crate on the YMIR."_

"Just a moment..." _Let's see, if that one's lateral and that one's horizontal, then this one must be..._ She fiddled with the controls, lining up the crane with the rampaging mech. The quarian hit a switch, and a crash of metal on metal was heard.

_"Just when the dance was getting good."_ Tali stifled a giggle at Kasumi's comment, then moved to where Garrus was standing, by the door to the office.

"Kasumi, stay up there and cloaked," the turian said. "Keep an eye out for us."

_"Will do, Gare."_

The quarian caught the turian's eye. "Remember, Garrus, we're not here to kill him."

"Well that's all up to Harkin now, isn't it?"

She didn't have time to reply before he hit the door controls.

* * *

The door shuts behind Thane, a pair of slaps audible through the heavy metal box he had been sealed in.

"Move out!"

He felt the subtle forces of the vehicle's takeoff, mitigated though they were by the mass effect drive that powered it. The assassin moved deeper into the space, taking a seat on the bench across from Kolyat.

_He still won't look at me._

Thane shifted, searching himself for the right words as the C-Sec vehicle flew down the ward arm, back towards the station.

"Here to say you were right?"

He looked up, though his son still stared determinedly at his own hands. "Kolyat, nothing about what I've done has been right."

"Then why are you here?" There was an edge to his voice that Thane hadn't heard at the apartment. "You screwed up when you weren't there. You screwed up when you got Mom killed. And now you've screwed up when I'm trying to make my own choices."

"Son, I-"

"Why couldn't you just leave well enough alone!"

He closed his eyes. _Coughing. Blood on the handkerchief. The rain isn't helping, but I won't leave. Not yet. The boy still angers. "Why weren't you here?"_

_Sunset eyes defiant in the scope._

"You and your mother were the best and brightest part of my life. Everything else about it, since I was six, has been about death and darkness." Kolyat grimaced at his words, but didn't look up. "I didn't initially tell your mother, but she had her suspicions. Eventually, she confronted me."

_Autumn breezes, heavy with dew. She stands by the window, her eyes in the dusk beyond. "It's for the Compact," I say. "Nothing more." She nods, then faces me. I make a vow. Those eyes will never see my work again._

He pulled out of the solipsism, unsure if he had voiced the memory aloud or not. When Kolyat made no indication either way, he continued. "I promised her I would keep my work separate, for your sake and hers. I couldn't allow it to damage your lives back home. Unfortunately, that decision came at the expense of time with you."

Kolyat grunted, though Thane couldn't tell which of the boy's emotions was winning out. The elder drell slipped into another memory.

_Humidity. The guards wave me in. The hanar is still as I deliver my report. Something's off, a scent in the air. I approach him. He doesn't move._

"I was careless on one of my jobs. An ally of one of my targets escaped, eventually tracked down the one who hired me. Through him, they discovered who I was, and who you and your mother were to me."

His breathing quickened, momentarily gasping for air as if it wasn't there. _The asari doctor frowns. "Stay in rhythm. Remember the exercises."_ Thane willed his lungs into a steady tempo, mastering his breaths until the air felt right again. Kolyat looked at him, something flashing behind his eyes. They hardened before he could speak again.

"I wasn't quick enough to stop them. I made them pay, but nothing I can do will bring Irikah back. I'm sorry."

The younger drell scoffed. "Funny that you'd want to stop me from joining the family business."

_Thirty-eight krogan, forty-six humans, six hanar, sixty-two turians, four volus, two elcor, fifty-three asari, seventy salarians, eighteen drell, and a quarian._

He blinked. From the look on Kolyat's face, his most recent memory had been vocalized. "I remember every kill I've ever made. Every injury I've gotten along the way. Every contact that I've lost. Drell are not meant for this sort of work, Kolyat." Thane gazed into his son's eyes. "That was never a life that either of us wanted for you."

"You survived."

"It nearly broke me. If not for the goddesses, my mind and soul would have been lost long ago. Even then, Irikah's death and... my body's limits still cast me into the limbo of battle-sleep more than once."

"And you're still here."

"I was lucky to wake up at all, Kolyat." He could feel it coming, an itch in the back of his throat. "I couldn't let you do this, losing yourself in what I did. What got Irikah ki-"

Thane was unable to mask his rough cough, with his hands bound behind his back. He shut his eyes, waiting for the feeling to pass. When he opened them, a spot of red was visible on the metal floor.

"I thought those were laughs," Kolyat mumbled. "You coughed whenever you came back."

"Yes."

"So it's Kepral's?"

He nodded.

"How long?"

"Nowhere near long enough to make up for the time I've missed with you."

Neither of them said anything more as they continued to travel to the station, the father unsure what, if anything, to add to what he'd already said. His son sat quietly, his own conflicted emotions visible on his face. Eventually, the vehicle came to a stop, the doors opening again as the motor wound down. Bailey waved Thane over, releasing the drell from his handcuffs.

"Any luck?" the officer asked, careful to remain tactful.

"Not all of it bad," the drell replied. _At least he knows now._ "If you can, would it be possible to set up a meal for us in the interview room?"

"You might have to take a rain check on that one." His eyes widened at Bailey's statement. "Shepard says something big's come up. We're scrambling as much C-Sec support as we can, but you and the rest of his team can be on the scene faster than we can."

The drell looked back into the van, torn between his duty to the commander and his desire to mend the relationship with his son. Kolyat spoke up, solving the issue for him.

"I'll wait for you, Dad."

_He hasn't called me that in years. _Thane smiled. _Maybe things are not so hopeless, after all._ He nodded to the C-Sec captain, massaging the feeling back into his wrists. "Where is Shepard?"

The human pointed behind the drell, to a second C-Sec cruiser. "Letting him fly her since he's a Spectre. Your weapons are inside. You'll want to hurry up now, he seemed pretty antsy."

The assassin sped over to the vehicle. As soon as he climbed in, the commander took off. The vehicle sped across the ward, weaving in and out of traffic lanes. _Shepard's driving wasn't this reckless on Aite._ He cast a glance toward the human, whose eyes appeared hollow with shock. _Restless, and afraid?_ The drell realized with a start that Shepard had neglected to even brief him on the situation. He tapped the human's shoulder, and was thankful that the man kept the vehicle under control as he whipped his head around. The man seemed surprised that the drell was even there, as if he had forgotten why he had waited before taking off.

"Shepard, what's wrong?"

* * *

_The two turians passed back through the party, sniper rifles and silenced pistols strapped to their backs. They declined the many hands and drinks that crossed their paths as they walked; they'd need to be sober for what they were going to be doing. The leader stopped at the door, turning to face his team._

_"Don't party too hard now," he said, addressing the group of vigilantes surrounding him. "Sid just gave me a huge lead. We're going to check it out now, but when we come back..." He left the statement unfinished._

_"We'll be making ready to kick some merc ass!" Butler called, his liter-sized mug held high in the air. "Happy hunting, Archangel!"_

_"Happy hunting!" the rest echoed, raising their own glasses._

_"Don't worry, we won't be hunting alone. I want all of you with me when we deal the blow that kills off the Blue Suns."_

_The others gave a round of cheers, though it was cut off by the voice of the large human._

_"Alright, you heard him. Last call!"_

_He grinned at Butler's words as he walked through the door, the other turian close by. They descended to the garage, boarding the extended hovercar that served as the group's impromptu shuttle. Silence reigned as they traveled, save for when Sidonis told Garrus to make a course correction. Eventually, he directed the former C-Sec officer to park the vehicle._

_"Is this it?"_

_"No," the other turian said with a shake of his head. "This is as close as we can get without drawing attention. We'll have to watch from the rooftops around here."_

_Garrus nodded. "Got one in mind?"_

_His friend nodded, stepping out of the car and into an open doorway. He followed, through a lobby and up a long flight of stairs. They emerged atop the tall building, their surroundings unobstructed for several kilometers._

_Sidonis marveled at the view. "I never thought anything in this dump could look... beautiful."_

_Garrus snickered. "At the rate we're going, we might actually clean up this asteroid. Maybe even have a few more angles where people would want to look at it more than once."_

_"That... would be nice." Before Garrus could ask what he meant, the other turian gestured with his hand. "The armory's right over there."_

_"Where?" he asked. "I don't see any mercs."_

_"That one, there." The other turian pointed. "Look closer, Garrus."_

_He put his eye to his rifle's scope, using the zoom to get a better view of the region. He frowned, seeing no obvious targets. "Where is it? All I can see is Afterl-"_

_The world went black before he could finish his sentence._

"Well that's all up to Harkin now, isn't it?"

Garrus slapped his palm on the interface. The door hardly made a sound as it opened, the room's sole occupant yelling at the interface in front of him.

"-damned machine! Why isn't it working?"

Garrus charged across the space, smacking the human with the butt of his rifle. He charged the dazed man, pinning him against a wall with an elbow.

"Hope you don't mind us dropping in like this, Fade."

"Whoa! C'mon, Garrus," the human blurted. "That's all in the past, right? We can work this out. What do you need?"

"Aside from a damned YMIR mech and several eighty-ton shipping crates, you mean?"

"Hey, it's all water under the bridge, right?" The turian raised a hand, ready to strike.

_"Garrus..."_ came a voice in his radio. The turian sighed, annoyed at the interruption. She shot Tali a look. _Of course she'd want me to be the bigger man..._

He stepped away with a snarl. "I'm looking for someone."

The turian could hear the unmistakable pop of the human cracking his neck. "Well, I guess we both have something the other one wants."

_Well, if he wants to be cocky..._

Garrus rounded on the human, giving him a swift knee to the groin. Harkin crumpled, groaning as he hit the floor. He looked over at Tali, expecting her to be ready to slap him in retaliation. To his surprise, she only shook her head. "You should just tell us what we want to know. This bosh'tet isn't going anywhere until you do."

_I guess she approved._

The human slowly got back to his feet, breathing heavily. "Maybe... But I still haven't heard what you want."

"You helped a friend of mine disappear. I need to find him."

"I might need-" Harkin paused to take a long breath through his nose. "-a little more information than that."

"His name was Sidonis." Garrus could see Harkin's eyes flash at the name. "Turian, came from Bin-"

"I know who he is and I'm not telling you squat!" Harkin suddenly seemed territorial, afraid.

"Is he really worth protecting, Harkin?" Tali asked.

"I don't give out client information, bucket. It's bad for business."

_That motherf-_ The quarian was on Harkin in less than a second, twisting his arm into an uncomfortable position behind him. She kicked out his knees from behind, causing him to fall forward on the ground. She kept her hold on the man's arm, his eyes widening in fear, despite the fact that she had done almost no real damage to him.

"Do you know this hold, Harkin?" she asked.

"Don't break my arm!"

"This is just one thing Garrus showed me. Up until now, I've been your friend, keeping Garrus from going too far. If you keep this up, I just might leave. And believe me, you don't want that."

Garrus leaned forward, speaking in a low voice to the human's ear. "I'd be standing on your worthless neck."

"You wouldn't..."

The turian placed his own foot on the back of Harkin's head, slowly shifting his weight. The human panicked, struggling vainly against Tali's hold. "Alright, alright! Just get off me!"

The two aliens released Harkin, allowing him to sit up. Garrus could tell the quarian was suppressing a shiver, her shoulders drooping slightly, but Harkin didn't notice. The human stretched his arm uneasily, as if surprised it was still intact. "Terminus really changed you, huh Garrus?"

"No, but Sidonis opened my eyes. Now arrange a meeting!"

The human looked shiftily between the two squadmates, his hands starting to tremble. He bowed his head, and took a deep breath.

"I... can't."

"What did you just say?"

"He vanished after the first meeting. I didn't even have time to forge some documents for his new identity."

_He slowly woke, his head throbbing as the world listed under him._

_What the hell just happened?_

_He climbed to his feet, using the dropped sniper rifle as a crutch as he stood. The turian looked around, suddenly aware that he was alone._

_Where's Sid?_

_His omni-tool flashed briefly, indicating a new message. He looked at it, frowning at the "unknown sender" header. He flicked a talon at it, opening the full text._

**_From: [sender ID not found]_**

**_To: A Friend_**

**_There's no time to waste, so I'll keep this brief._**

**_They're coming, Archangel._**

**_Your people are going to die. If they haven't already, they will soon. The pieces are already in motion, and you won't be in a position to stop it from happening. You're far enough out that you can get away before the mercs even realize you're not there. Please use the opportunity. I know it's hardly a consolation, but this was the lesser of the two evils._**

**_GET OUT WHILE YOU CAN!_**

_He quickly reread the message, his stomach dropping as he said the third sentence aloud. "Your people are going to die."_

_His headache and fatigue were washed away by a rush of adrenaline. He sprinted back for the staircase, trying vainly to reach Sidonis, then Butler on his comm as he flew down the stairs. The aircar powered up instantly, causing him to marvel that it was still there._

_Where is Lantar? And if he left, why is it still here?_

_He brushed aside the thoughts and floored the accelerator. The vehicle zoomed away, headed straight for the home base. The chrono on the dashboard made him wince._

_I've been out for four hours... But he could have ran back to the base by now._

_I'm sure of it._

_Soon, the bridge to the house his squad had called home came into view. A gasp was stifled at the sight of fire and bodies lining the walkway. He flew low and hit a switch on the vehicle, opening the hidden garage entrance on the basement level._

_He landed to a scene of carnage, several vorcha and varren corpses spread across the room. A shot whizzed by his head as soon as he stepped out of the car._

_They're using the tunnels!_

_He sprinted away, blind-firing his pistol behind him as he made for a switch in the next room. A klaxon blared, warning as the door began to slide shut behind him. Garrus grabbed an assault rifle off a dead merc, and laid down suppressing fire through the closing opening. Snarls greeted him as several vorcha took cover. A varren made the mistake of trying to approach anyway, earning a concussive blast to the face for its efforts. The animal had barely climbed back to its feet before the door closed with a solid thump. He resumed his run, heading for the stairs into the house proper. A single krogan was on the ground, his iridescent green armor riddled with dozens of bullet wounds and slick with orange blood._

_Krul..._

_Spirits, don't let me be too late._

Garrus felt an involuntary tremor, flabbergasted at the words that had come from Harkin's mouth. He snarled, kicking the sitting man down. "I'm going to assume my mind was playing tricks on me, so I'll give you another shot. Tell me where Sidonis is."

"He vanished right before he could pay. Someone else paid for him, said the job was already done!"

"Wrong answer." The turian drew his pistol. "One more chance. Tell me."

"I don't know, Garrus," the human pleaded, backing up against the wall.

_He ran through the living room. Glasses and plates were everywhere, visible evidence of the recent party. A large human was slumped forward from his seat on the couch, a victim of sniper fire. A lighter and an unlit cigarette lie on the floor close by, forgotten._

_Butler..._

_He turned toward the staircase, leaping up the steps three at a time as he drew his gun._

_"Please... Don't let them be..."_

A purple blur rushed up to him, grabbing his arm. He could hear her saying something, but blotted it out as he stared down the human. He managed to elbow her aside, and leveled the gun at Harkin's leg. "Tell me, dammit!"

"I don't know."

_He spied Mierin as soon as the door opened, the salarian firing over the balcony toward the bridge. Vortash sat in a far corner near the beds, mumbling something as he zipped a bag shut over a drell._

_Sensat..._

_Next to him were five other sealed body bags._

Garrus fired, blowing out the human's right knee. He stood on the man's other ankle, training the weapon on his left knee. His comm began to buzz in his ear. _"Garrus, we've got a-"_

"Not now, Kasumi!" He ripped off his visor, throwing it and its built-in communicator on the ground. Harkin's screams subsided, just enough that he could be heard once more. "Where is he?"

_His eyes passed over the floor, littered with merc bodies. Their different colors of armor and blood painted a grim picture across the squad's former base. He shook his head, unable to say anything but, "How?"_

_Vortash's gaze flew up, his omni-tool held out to attack. The batarian stopped when his four eyes met the turian's. A low snarl came from the man, his eyes full of anger. "Sidonis."_

_He could hear an engine rumbling in the distance._

"I don't know."

Garrus shot Harkin's other knee. The human screamed in anguish. "I don't fucking know! Garrus, please!"

_If that won't make him talk..._ He tossed aside the pistol, standing over Harkin. He grabs the man's shirt, lifting him enough to put weight on his mutilated legs. Tali came back, trying to step between them. He didn't allow it, pushing her aside once more. "Where is that bastard?" He could still hear noise, the quarian yelling something at him.

The human was weeping by then, tears streaming down his face. "I don't know."

A female voice yelped in surprise from behind him, but he took no notice.

_"No..."_

_A floodlight swept over them, the sound of a machine gun shredding the night air. He could hear the salarian yelp in pain moments before the first shot passed through Vortash's chest. He dove to the side, narrowly avoiding the barrage. The batarian, on the other hand, was shredded by the gunship's fire. "Sidonis...?"_

_He moved, his sniper rifle's scope already placed to his eye as he leaned around the couch. He fired at the gunship's wing-mounted engine, scoring a lucky shot that earned a stream of smoke. The turian stole a glance at the balcony, seeing Mierin's bloody body._

_I'm alone._

_The turian slumped forward, the grief slamming into him like a shot from a dreadnought._

_They're all dead._

_He heard yells coming from over the balcony. Rifle at his side, he slid up to the edge and peered over. A turian in blue suns armor barked orders._

_He had the same clan paint._

_"SIDONIS!"_

_He fired at the turian, the shot landing dead center in the man's chest. Only after the merc fell did he notice the facial scars that his former ally's face had never borne._

_He didn't care._

Garrus socked Harkin in the gut. The human gagged, coughing up blood. "Where the fuck is Sidonis?!"

The sound of over half a dozen guns being drawn momentarily distracted him.

"Wouldn't you like to know."

The world spun around him, coming to rest with him against a wall. A black-armored krogan strode into view just as the pain began to sink in. _Did he just headbutt me?_

"Garrus Vakarian," the krogan spoke again. "You really are predictable. More so than Sidonis ever gave you credit for."

The turian made to stand, but multiple sets of hands gripped his body, holding him in place. He yelled in annoyance as another struggle was heard out of his line of sight. The krogan frowned. "Be gentle. The Shadow Broker has something special in mind for her."

_Shadow Broker? The fucking Shadow Broker's sheltering him?!_

Garrus yelled again, his rage boiling over. "Damn you Harkin! Damn you for giving him to the Broker!"

The krogan began to chuckle, then dragged the human into view. "You mean him?" Garrus struggled against his captors, but stilled at what the krogan did next.

The warrior casually took Garrus's pistol from where it lay on the floor. "You shouldn't leave a job half-finished." He turned the gun, emptying the rest of the clip on the human. He turned toward Garrus as Harkin stilled, then began to laugh at the look of shock on the turian's face. The unknown alien stepped closer, the feel of his breath making Garrus's plates itch.

"Don't worry about him, Archangel. You have your own problems to worry about."

Garrus's eyes widened, seeing the room in a new light. Though the men pinning him were out of sight, he could see the logo of the Blue Suns on their gauntlets. He struggled to turn his head, noting that Tali was held down by a trio of vorcha, the white skull and fist of the Blood Pack crudely painted but clearly visible on their chests. An asari walked in, yellow Eclipse armor shining and her tattooed face twisted into an evil grin. "Thanks for the present, Karn. Tell the Broker we'll be having plenty of fun with this one."

"Not yet, Jona. Let Archangel see his _friend_ first."

She chuckled darkly, stroking a finger across the turian's undamaged mandible. "Oh, don't you worry about that. I love to watch peons like him squirm."

* * *

**Note from the author:**  
**I hope you brought your mountaineering gear. ;)**


	12. -Is Blind

**Note from the author:**  
***Looks over the edge of a cliff***  
**Oh, good- you guys are still hanging there. Let me just... *Tosses a rope down, waits for you to climb it*  
Now I hope there's no hard feelings about-  
*Gets socked in the face*  
Right...**  
**Here's the rest of the Garrus/Sidonis arc.**

* * *

11: ...Is Blind

Shepard touched down in the back of a small alley, nestling the vehicle next to a parked kodiak shuttle. As he stepped out, Glass nodded to the Spectre. The pilot's hands were occupied by a large paint brush, which was spreading white paint over the bright orange Cerberus emblem. "They're down by the far end," the scarred man remarked. "Brought as much of the armory as we could. Miranda's just waiting on you."

John hurried past, not waiting for Thane as he made for where the alley intersected a larger walkway. The area was deserted for the moment, only occupied by his squad as they prepped their choice armaments. A group of weapons crates, several datapads, and a large desk were scattered through the space. Miranda stood by the table, for once wearing clothing that didn't betray her allegiance as she studied the datapad.

"What's the sitrep?" he demanded, moving towards her.

She held up a finger, speaking into her radio. "Hang on, he just arrived. Let me patch you in with the rest of the squad." The human woman activated her omni-tool, touching a few keys. "Alright, Kasumi. Tell him everything."

_"About two hours ago, Garrus and Tali cornered Fade, the man Garrus believed would know Sidonis's location."_ Miranda offered the commander a seat, but he shook his head. He began to pace as Kasumi continued to speak over the radio. _"He told me to stand lookout while they went into an office to get the info."_

There was a break as the thief took a deep breath, as if she was reluctant to disclose the details of what happened next. She still soldiered on. _"A group of mercs bunched up around the room. I tried to warn Garrus, but he was... too busy to listen."_

"What do you mean?" Shepard asked.

_"He cut me off, sounded like something had him angry. His comm went dead right before the mercs came in. I swapped to Tali's comm, but it went to static right after. Probably one of them using an overload at close range on her suit."_

"At any rate, we're getting off-topic," Miranda cut in. "Stick with what's important."

_"Right,"_ Kasumi said, just before Shepard could loudly remind Miranda of the importance of the suit that kept Tali alive. _"The mercs came out about two minutes after, a group of all the Big Three, plus a krogan in black. From the looks of it, Tali and Garrus had been knocked out with a sedative. I was able to shadow them, picked up on some of their chatter. The one in black's running the show, some kind of agent for the Shadow Broker. As for the others..."_ She trailed off.

The Spectre tensed, his stomach weighted with dread.

_"They know that Garrus is Archangel."_

John's fist became intimately familiar with the tabletop, leaving a large indentation as the biotic aura faded.

_"I sent a message to Miranda and followed them. Eventually, they took them to this facility."_ Miranda tapped one of the datapads with a finger, bringing up a three-dimensional representation of the building.

"Kunyalt Storage," the operative informed. "Officially, it serves both commercial and private interests. Unofficially, C-Sec has suspected them of using the facility for numerous criminal activities. Over 500 individual units at this location, as well as round-the-clock surveillance, courtesy of the Eclipse."

_"Except the Eclipse aren't the only ones here,"_ Kasumi butted in. _"Apparently, Garrus is a big enough prize for them to let the others have a significant presence too."_

Shepard shook his head. "How significant? Is there an easy way in at ground level?"

_"Negative. Six guards, minimum at every marked entrance. Always two of each merc group. Plus, there's not much room to maneuver on the lower levels- lots of narrow hallways. I had to sneak in through a commercial loading area, but their camera coverage isn't friendly if you don't have a tac-cloak."_

"Fire escapes?"

_"This is the Citadel, Shep. Atmo ends before the third story. Hang on- Looking at a map on a wall, here. There's an emergency exit on the southwest corner. Old-school swinging doors, by the looks of it. There's a chance it'll have fewer people watching, but no guarantees."_

"Then that's our entrance," Shepard said. "Sounds good enough for a couple of people to slip in."

"But not a full squad." Miranda frowned as she looked at the diagram of the facility. "With the exception of the main entrance and elevators, none of the halls on the bottom two floors are more than three meters wide. Too large a group and you can all get taken out at once by one or two shooters."

"Which means being ambushed would be fatal." Shepard shook his head with dismay. _Large squads will work against us, but there's no telling how many mercs there are. Dammit, if only they weren't cooperating, this would be so mu-_

"Wait a minute," he said. "I think I have something."

Miranda looked up. "We're all ears, Shepard."

"Kasumi," he asked, "how friendly are the mercs with each other?"

A moment of silence preceded a laugh from the thief.

_"One order of bedlam, coming right up."_

* * *

"Let usss kill him. He killed brothers. Musst pay for Omega! For Garm!"

"Not until I've had my fun, Kreete. Can't have dinner without a show, now, can we?"

"Can we hurry it up, Jona? I say we wake his ass up now, regardless of what Karn-"

"He's the only reason we found Archangel, Darner. We'll wait until-"

"Stop your blabbering, I'm here."

"Finally."

"Kreete, if you'll do the honors. Not too deep, now."

"Yess, undersstand. No kill yet."

Garrus Vakarian's world erupted in a flash of pain as he was yanked into full consciousness. His unscarred cheekplate screamed as his eyes snapped open. A vorcha stood over him, its claws tinged with blue blood.

_My blood._

"Him awake," the alien hissed. "Hurry with your fun."

"Wait outside, Kreete," a voice grumbled from out of sight. "We'll tell you when there's killing to do."

The vorcha snarled, but walked away, leaving the turian staring at a wall. He tried to move his arms and turn his head, but both were restrained by heavy metal rings built into the chair he sat in. His legs were also bound in place, unable to reach the floor. He could hear someone stomping toward him, and barely caught a look at a human male before a fist landed on the scarred side of his face.

"That's for Jentha, you bastard!"

"Vosque..." the deep voice warned.

"Don't worry, I'm not hitting him again... yet." The human backed off nonetheless, popping his knuckles for emphasis.

Garrus grunted, testing his multiple sets of vocal chords before speaking. "Lucky me. You didn't even mention Tarak."

The human made a lunge at him, but suddenly flew back, as if the hand of God had flicked him aside.

"Take a walk, Darner."

The man in Blue Suns armor huffed, brushing his shoulder as he peeled himself off the floor. "Fucking biotics. Tell me when you're done with this pile of crap. Maybe I'll be finished making my own by then."

"Maybe you will. But in the meantime-"

The room spun as the chair swiveled under Garrus. He found his eyes locking with those of the indigo-tattooed asari from the warehouse. The black-armored krogan stood in the background, a predatory grin on his face.

"-He's all ours." The asari turned back to the krogan. "Wake up our other guest, Karn. It's time the show got started."

At that point, he noticed there was another chair across the room. The krogan stomped over to it, the seat's occupant hidden and facing away from the turian. _Tali? Spirits, don't tell me these monsters have her too..._

Karn reached over the chair. Within moments, a shriek of pain rang through the room, nearly deafening the turian. Even then, it wasn't enough to mask a sickening crack of bone. The krogan tossed something to Jona. "Here's the finger you asked for."

Garrus's eyes widened. _Spirits! They didn't just-_

"You always knew what to get for a woman, Karn." Jona held the severed digit out in the light, tipped with a long talon and covered in blue blood. "The trigger-finger that killed Jaroth's brother will make a fine addition to my collection."

_Jaroth?_ Memories just out of reach tugged at his mind. _I know that name..._

"Just kill me already, Karn!" a flanging voice yelled out. "We both know that's what you really want."

Garrus let out a growl of anger. _I know that voice._

"Oh, it's not about what _I_ want," the krogan chuckled. "The Shadow Broker wants to make an example of you... You're going to be the next Feron, the next cautionary tale that everyone hears rumors about."

"You think that torturing me-" The prisoner's speech was cut off by a bark of laughter from the armored reptile.

"Of course not. But I'm not going to be your executioner." Karn spun the other chair around, its occupant's eyes going wide as his eyes locked with Garrus's. The turian's growl increased in intensity as he recognized the other captive's clan paint. "He is."

"SIDONIS!" Garrus was dimly aware of the sound of rattling chains and loud expletives as he struggled with his bonds. Adrenaline surged through his veins, dimming his senses even further as he focused in on the other turian. He could see his former ally shrink into his chair, but didn't care whether it was in shock or fear. Neither did he bother to notice how the metal bonds were starting to bite into his arms and legs.

All he cared about was making him _hurt_.

* * *

"Hey, what was that for?"

"What?"

"You know what!"

Kasumi slunk away from the bickering mercs, grinning at her successes. _You'd think one of the patrols would've been smart enough to catch on by now._ She quickly moved up a stairwell, making sure to nudge another Suns merc as he passed by a vorcha. Batarian curses and low hisses began to build in volume as she continued.

_Let's see... Miranda said it should be somewhere around- Here we are!_

Despite her cloak, the thief ducked into a corner. She peeked out from behind a large potted plant, its frilled leaves masking her faint outline even further. A quartet of Eclipse mercs was there, guarding a set of double-doors. An overhead sign identified the room beyond: **Security Control**

_Jackpot!_

A blue suns patrol happened to be walking by. The second group's leader, a human, glared at the yellow-armored salarians distastefully as he passed by.

_Oh, this is too good to pass up._

She dug through the plant's soil, easily finding a fingertip-sized stone. The thief tiptoed around the room, standing closer to the salarians as she watched the man. The human finally looked away, his head swiveling around just enough.

She threw the rock.

"What the fuck!"

The human raised a hand to the back of his cranium, his furious eyes passing over the room before he noticed the rock on the floor. He scooped up the piece of gravel, waving it around as he bellowed in anger. "Who did this?"

None of the Eclipse mercs spoke, despite the clear signs of bewilderment on some of their faces. Hands around the room gripped tighter to their weapons as the human led his men back. He raised his hand, pointing to the nearest of the salarians. "You, tell me who did this!"

"I-" the amphibian stammered. "I- I don't know-"

Before he could finish, the blue-armored merc had already socked him in the face, knocking the alien off his feet. As one, the other salarians lifted their weapons.

_And that's the way the cookie crumbles._

The room erupted into shouts and gunfire, though none of it was directed at the thief in her hidden nook.

"Alert security!"

"I told Vosque it was too good to be true."

"Fire at will!"

"Screw you, frog-face!"

**"Alert to all Eclipse: the Blue Suns have broken the truce. Suppress with extreme prejudice."**

The door that the mercs were guarding flew open, an additional asari and salarian coming to back up the Eclipse forces. Kasumi quietly slipped through before it shut, barely catching a parting glimpse of a biotic showdown between the asari and a turian in Suns armor.

She drew her locust, sweeping the room for hostiles. Finding none, she took an empty seat at an important-looking terminal. The thief touched a control, activating a holoscreen.

**Enter Password**

_Hmm..._

She passed a hand on the underside of the table housing the security terminal. Sure enough, a loose item brushed against her fingertips. She ducked her head under the table, seeing a loose piece of tissue paper held in place with a spot of adhesive. The woman squinted her eyes, deciphering the poorly-written scrawl on the sheet.

_New password: "Codeword: Dirtbag"_

Kasumi shook her head as she typed in the passcode. Several other screens sprang to life, showing video feeds throughout the building. "Seriously, it's like these mercs are getting dumber by the day. You'd think they'd come up with something better than 'codeword dirtbag'."

A radio buzzed from the seat next to her. _"Ow! The fricking mech just punched me!"_

_"Shut up, Grif. You shouldn't have been in its way."_

_"Oh yeah? Maybe you'd like to try it out sometime, Simmons."_

_"Keep your chatter off the emergency line!"_

_"Sorry, Sarge! Won't happen again."_

_"Kiss-ass..."_

Kasumi stifled a chuckle as the line went dead. _Definitely dumber._ She focused back on the terminal, bringing up a log of all the storage spaces in the building. The woman filtered the list, limiting the search to free rooms and ones owned by mercs from a list Miranda had provided. She frowned at the number that remained.

_It's still too many._

She lifted a hand to her ear, activating her comm.

* * *

_"Nightingale to nest. Come in, nest"_

Miranda rolled her eyes as she answered the call. "The line's already encrypted, Kasumi."

_"And hacking through those is something I end up doing on the job nine times out of ten. I'd rather not chance giving them extra intel."_

The Cerberus operative looked up in exasperation, catching a glance from Jacob. He shrugged, barely masking a grin that Miranda could only see hints of. _Just humor her._

"Fine. What's your status, Nightingale?"

_"The family feud's started, so Dog and Gecko are free to climb the tree. I also managed to get into their spider's lair. Transmitting data from their net now; it should help with finding our lost valuables."_

Miranda opened the data packet from her omni-tool as she brought up the datapad with the facility map on it for reference. _Thirty-four possible rooms across five floors... At least it's better than searching all five hundred._ She updated her map with the targeted rooms. "Thanks, Nightingale. I'll send them in. Make your way up to the canopy and work your way down to the forest floor. Tell me every time you pass a yellow leaf."

_"Will do. Over and out."_

She switched comm channels, pegging Shepard and Thane. "Nest to Dog and Gecko. Come in, Dog"

_"What?"_

"Sorry," she backtracked. "Kasumi had me speaking in code. She got the mercs to turn on each other, so you're good to enter. I've also updated your maps with rooms of priority; we believe Tali and Garrus are being held in one or two of those. Update me when you clear one, it'll help once we have C-Sec on site."

_"Got it."_

"I recommend you split at the staircase after you breach and clear; you and Thane are going to have to cover a lot of ground in a short time period."

_"How long until we get backup?"_

She consulted her omni-tool. "They're still fifteen minutes out." The operative looked up at Jacob's group, who were all doing last-minute checks on their weapons. "Second squad is ready and waiting in the meantime."

_"Copy. I'll tell you if we need them sooner. Over and out."_

Miranda looked back to Jacob's squad. Grunt looked torn between excitement and disappointment at not drawing first blood from their enemies, but managed to stand still, his anxiety only evident from the impatient tapping of his foot as he stared at Zaeed. The former merc, on the other hand, appeared completely relaxed. He lied on his back on a closed supply crate, absentmindedly twirling a combat blade with one hand as he smoked a cigarette. Jacob, meanwhile, was conversing with Jack. The former Corsair was miming various gestures to the biotic powerhouse, explaining his own hand signals to her.

And from the look on her face, she was actually listening to him.

Miranda half-grinned, resisting the urge to pull a double-take at the surprising sight before turning back to the overlay of the base as the advance team began to drop status updates.

_And it's all because of Shepard._

* * *

**"Alert to all Eclipse: the Blue Suns have broken the truce. Suppress with extreme prejudice."**

The announcement over the intercom broke through the turian's rage, distracting Garrus enough to pause in his vigorous attempts at escape. He realized he had completely forgotten about the room's other occupants, whose smiling faces quickly turned to frowns of displeasure.

"Idiot human," Karn groaned, marching to a doorway. "I'll deal with him and his dolts. Don't start without me."

As the krogan left, the two turians' eyes settled on the tattooed asari. "Oh, don't mind me," Jona said, her voice full of poisoned honey as she smiled devilishly. "Please continue, Archangel. I was _loving_ the part about what you were going to do with his mandibles. I never considered using them as chopsticks, myself."

Garrus looked back at Sidonis, but didn't speak as their eyes locked once more. He turned away, his eyes settling for anywhere but the turian seated across from him.

"What's the matter, done venting already? How disappointing..."

The turian didn't give voice to the thoughts he had about how wrong she was. He was still angry. _Spirits_, he was enraged by the man more than he had been by anything else in his life.

_But there was something else_, he realized. _This whole mess is my fault. Tali... maybe even Kasumi, too. Shepard probably has no idea where we are._

"This is the man who got all your best friends killed. How does that make you feel?"

_My anger got us captured. Got us into this mess._

"Don't you want to make him pay? Make him feel everything that they did in their dying moments?"

_**I** got us captured, or worse..._

"Oh Archangel..."

_I am NOT going to be her entertainment anymore._

The asari's face flushed with annoyance. "Fine! Be the mute pawn. You're nothing before the might of a queen and a rook. NOTHING! We'll just kill the both of you once we're done with those idiots outside." The woman glared at Garrus, her breath washing over his wounded cheekplate as he stared pointedly at the wall. She punched his face, making blue-tinged spittle fly over the arm of the chair, but still he said nothing. "I need to spill some blood," the asari hissed. "I'll be back for yours." She stomped away, opening the door to the sound of gunfire and frenzied shouts. Jona glowed blue as the door closed behind her. "Make peace with your damned spirits."

A deafening silence lingered in her wake. The turians' eyes met for a moment before turning away once more.

_It's my fault I'm going to die... And the girls-_ He shook his head. _I got them into this, all for this asshole._

Garrus thought of Shepard, not sure if he should laugh or not at the thought of how he left his friend. _I was such a fool._

He allowed the grief to consume him for a few minutes, periodically broken by futile struggles with his restraints. Garrus noticed that Sidonis wasn't fighting his own, not even bothering to cover the gaping wound where his severed digit was. Another thought came to mind, pushing aside his despair.

_Why did he do it?_

It was a simple thought, but it snowballed from there. _What was it that started this whole mess?_

_How did they get to him?_

_Why did he turn?_

It wasn't like they were going anywhere soon.

"I'll tell you what," he voiced, straining to keep his voice from coming out in a roar once more, "since I'm feeling a little generous, I think I'd like to know why it happened." He faced the turian full-on, forcing his gaze to linger. "Why you lured me away and left the squad to die. Call it a last request if you want, but I want to know what turned my second-in-command against me."

The other turian looked at him, surprised. "You don't want to kill me?"

"This changes nothing, Sidonis. If they release me, I'm going to rip your damn throat out."

"I deserve as much," he breathed, his gaze falling again. He began to mumble, indecisive half-thoughts that were cut off before they could truly take shape.

"Tick-tock, Sidonis. I'd suggest you don't waste the breaths you can still take."

He sighed, and began to speak up. "I don't know the details, but Shepard defied the Shadow Broker-"

"When he didn't hand over Kahoku's data on Cerberus and gave it to the Alliance instead." Lantar looked at him curiously, as if he had revealed the meaning of life. "I know because I was there, Sidonis."

"Right." He nodded, then continued. "Shepard led a team that tracked down one of the most decorated Spectres, defeated him, and stopped an invasion that would have led to galactic extinction. And he defied the Shadow Broker. Spirits, I'd have been scared of him, too...

"But then Shepard died. The Broker had been putting things in motion, just in case Shepard decided to come for him, but all of it was put aside after the SR-1 was destroyed. He thought the threat was over."

Sidonis's voice faded once more, as if at a loss for how to continue. Garrus shut his eyes. _If he doesn't hurry up and get to the heart of this, I might not wait for that damn krogan to get back._ He gave another tug at the chain on one of his arms, but it gave no sign of yielding. Meanwhile, the room's other occupant had found his rhythm once more.

"Two years ago, the Broker was interested in reclaiming Shepard's body."

Garrus paused in his fruitless attempts at freedom. "Why?"

"He received an offer from the collectors." Vakarian gave a low growl, both at his bindings and at the mention of the slave race that had killed Shepard before. "He was unsuccessful."

_So this is where that Lazarus Project Shepard mentioned comes in._ "Because Cerberus interfered."

"No," Sidonis cut in. "It was because Liara T'soni interfered."

Garrus pulled a double-take. "Liara T'soni? Century-old Prothean researcher and quiet recluse?"

"I hardly believed it myself when I found out," the other turian replied a slight nod. "She gained sympathy from one of his operatives, and eventually stole Shepard's body from under the nose of the Shadow Broker's assassin."

"You mean 'one of his assassins'."

"When you have someone like Tazzik, you don't need anyone else." An ominous silence followed before he continued. "The operative was caught, but T'soni got away and gave Shepard's body to Cerberus. That's when he realized that the threat Shepard posed was far from over. He sent someone to sabotage Project Lazarus, but he also decided to keep an eye on T'soni."

Garrus was about to ask why, but stopped when he remembered the last time he saw the asari, livid and screaming at Tali. _"She died as the Broker kidnapped her last friend and ally to make an example out of him!"_

The asari's attitude, so focused on the Shadow Broker, suddenly began to make sense. "So he sent the Overseer."

Sidonis nodded, as if no longer surprised that Garrus would know more than he had expected. "Yes. But he didn't stop there."

_So... we were all potential threats?_

"Ashley Williams was relatively easy for him to tail. Because of her sense of duty to the Alliance, she wasn't likely to go AWOL and charge in after him. He decided not to risk the public spectacle of assassinating her, but he had more than enough spies in the Alliance to get her stuck in a dead-end posting."

"On Horizon."

"Yes," he acknowledged. "Urdnot Wrex was troublesome to follow, since he kept such a close eye on his followers. The Broker was never able to keep any spies among his own clan, but he was able to get a couple of sympathetic people from Gatatog. Wrex never left Tuchanka after he got there, though, so there wasn't any need to take him down."

The gears turned in Garrus's mind. "Because trying to unite the krogan clans keeps him from worrying about other things."

"Exactly. Tali'Zorah proved to be an interesting case, though."

"How so?"

"She was... well... untouchable."

Garrus shook his head in disbelief. "Even if I hadn't seen Liara on Illium, I might have still thought that she could have stood up to the Broker. Tali being impossible to reach is another story."

"Every agent he sent to tail her in the Migrant Fleet turned up dead or missing within a week of making contact. It was as if someone was actively seeking them out, some protector that didn't want the Broker to get his hands on her. Eventually, he had to abandon it altogether."

"Somehow, I still find that hard to believe."

"Quarians are hard for him to recruit. Too many focused on their 'good of the fleet' nonsense."

_Knowing Tali, there may be some truth in that. Still..._ "That leaves just one person from Shepard's squad." Lantar fell silent, his head bowed in shame.

"I know this doesn't mean much, but I'm sorry Garrus."

* * *

_Why are there always space goblins?_

Shepard ducked behind a corner, tightening his grip on the SMG as gunfire whizzed down the hall. He waited for a lull in the fire, and retaliated with a Shockwave. The cascade of biotic explosions tore down the narrow space, smashing three of the aliens against walls and one against the ceiling.

He wasted no time before he dashed out of cover, executing each of them with a quick double-tap to the head before they could raise their weapons once more. John backtracked once they were dealt with.

_125... 127... 131!_

Even with his meager hacking skills, the low-security door proved no match for the Spectre's omni-tool. Within moments, it opened, allowing him to enter. Several stacks of boxes lined the walls, but a pair of chairs sat in the middle of the room. He quickly crossed the space to the nearest chair, spinning it around to find-

_Clothes._

Both seats were occupied by piles of clothing and armor, much of it marred with the Blue Suns' logo. He raised a hand to his ear. "Room 131 is clear. Nobody's here."

_"Understood. Next one's 148. Down the hall, make the first left. It'll be on the right."_

"Copy." As he lowered his hand, he noticed that the sounds of gunfire from outside had died down.

In their place, he heard a series of growls.

_Please don't let that be what I think it is._

He slowly pivoted, holding his breath.

Three varren slowly paced between him and the exit, trapping him in the storage unit. He carefully drew his shotgun, making the practiced movement as exaggerated as possible. They began to close in, making the barely-four-by-four (meter) space that wasn't taken up by boxes feel stiflingly small. Shepard drew on his biotic powers as he activated his katana.

**Schick**

They charged across what little space remained as the weapon readied. He fired a Warp with his off-hand, narrowly missing one as it dodged to the side with a snarl. The katana barked twice at a second, dropping it in a puddle of blood.

Unfortunately, Shepard didn't have a third hand.

The unmolested varren pounced, pinning him to the ground. The shotgun flew out of his hands, clattering against the wall. The animal's toothy maw snapped at his head, missing only because he leaned away just in time. He pushed his arm up against the beast's neck as it bit at him again, creating some space as he reached for his hip. The animal roared in anger, its paw managing to slash across his face.

He grunted, the sting of his fresh wound nearly making him drop the blur of teeth and claws. His free hand found the grip of a weapon, but it was pinned between his body and the floor. Shepard tried to roll his hips, but was forced to stop as the animal swatted at him again, narrowly missing his neck.

By then, the other varren had joined in. Its jaws wrapped around the torso of his body armor, teeth punching through the ceramic outer layer like it was made of cardboard. The animal tightened its grip, the plates starting to give way to the tremendous pressure as its ally continued to wrestle against the commander. He could feel the weight on his rapidly-compressing armor limiting his ability to breathe. John tugged at the grip of his pistol, but it remained, stuck. The varren that bit him suddenly yanked him, hard. One of the animal's teeth punched through the armor's underlayer, jamming into his stomach. He looked at it, watching as it gathered itself to thrash him again.

He rolled right as it tugged on him, and the pistol came free.

Shepard pressed the gun against the first varren's stomach, rapidly pulling the trigger. Blood fountained from his predator's bite as the rapid-fire weapon discharged again and again. The beast fell limp, and he pushed it off of him just in time to get jerked him once more. His body slammed against a wall, and he felt another tooth sink into his skin. He aimed at the animal's head, and pulled the trigger.

**Beep-beep-beep**

The varren tossed him against the wall again as he popped the spent heat sink from his gun. He mustered his biotic power as the beast prepared to seize once more, focusing it around his arm as the armor continued to constrict around his ribcage. A blue aura swirled around his fist, and he slammed it into the animal's face. Its grip immediately weakened, leaving deep gashes across Shepard's armor as the varren flew into the opposite wall. The Spectre stood as the animal rolled back onto its feet with a growl. He grabbed a fresh heat sink from his belt, popping it in as the animal began to charge.

He fired twice, and it slumped to the ground.

_"Commander, status update."_

John took a couple of deep breaths, then raised a hand to his comm. "Got held up by some guard varren. On my way to 148."

_"Your vitals were spiking just a moment ago. I can send Thane your way if you need medical attention."_

"Negative," he murmured, slathering medi-gel across his wounded face. "I'll be fine, Miranda. We can't waste time here." _Not when Tali could be..._

_"Acknowledged. I'll tell you if the others hear anything."_

"Thanks."

He rushed back out into the hall. Luckily, he didn't encounter any more (living) mercs as he traveled to unit 148. Eschewing a hack attempt altogether, he violently pulled the door open, the metal giving way to his cybernetics and biotics. The room beyond was darkened. He checked his corners, finding a light switch. He flicked at the interface.

A handful of lights flickered on from across the room. Rather than lighting the floorspace, however, they pointed at the engraved letters on a wall-mounted plaque.

**My greatest kill**

He held back a gasp as the lights intensified. Mounted on the wall was the head of an asari, her brow and cheekbones accented with red decorative plates. A silvery neckpiece masked where her neck met the wall. Her face was a patchwork of sewn-together flesh, the stitched-on skin covering several depressions in her skull. He was reminded of Frankenstein's monster as he stepped closer, horrified, but transfixed by the dead woman's blank stare. The lights brightened to reveal another plaque above her head.

**Justicar Reyla**

Without warning, more lights flicked on all around the room. Shelves throughout the room formed several aisles, all lined with fabrics in the Eclipse's yellow and black. On the shelves sat several displays. Sealed jars sat on some, severed body parts floating in the liquids within. Others had scraps of armor, damaged from some fight or other. Still others had limbs too large for the jars; arms, legs, and heads stuffed and displayed like museum pieces. A stuffed krogan stood in a far corner, its red armor full of orange-tinted bullet holes.

"Miranda," he asked, stepping further into the room, "who the hell rented this unit?"

_"One moment."_ There was a momentary silence as he walked through the room, hypnotized by the well-preserved battlefield mementos. _"Jona Sederis, founding member of the Eclipse. C-Sec's psych profile indicates advanced psycopathy and egomania; she sees herself as untouchable, lacks empathy of any sort, and enjoys seeing others in pain."_

Something caught his eye, glint of purple glass. He rushed over to it. A display held a quarian's purple-tinted visor and a jar. A single finger, longer and thicker than a human's, but tinted a ghostly-pale blue, floated in the jar.

_Please, don't be-_

He spun the jar, a label coming into view: **Sila'Ple vas Nedas, Exile**

He breathed a sigh of relief as Miranda continued. _"Rumors say she's the one who instituted their requirement that every member is only accepted after they commit a murder. They also-"_

Shepard fell to one knee, his head feeling like it was going to split open. The sound of Miranda's voice began to fade as the world swirled around him.

_Her eyes dart from the Eclipse's logo to the asari's eyes as the biotics fade. The indigo tattoos barely stand out from her midnight blue skin as Jona's face stretches in a twisted smile. "Kill!"_

_Commander John Shepard. Human Systems Alliance. First human Spectre._

The throbbing ceased, and he once again became aware of his surroundings. Miranda continued speaking in his ear, oblivious to his episode. _"-ple murders over the past eleven decades, but they never found sufficient evidence to convict."_

"I found her trophy room, Miranda."

The woman paused amidst her infodump. _"Could you repeat that, Shepard?"_

"She takes pieces of her victims, stores them here like museum displays." He saw a pair of empty jars, already labeled. Shepard stepped closer as he continued. "If C-Sec saw this room, they'd have more than enough evidence to convict." He raised one of the empty jars and read the name: _Lantar Sidonis_ "Enough for multiple asari lifetimes, if not death." He raised the other and gasped at the name.

_Archangel_

"Quick! Search for any other units owned by her!"

_"Shepard, I'm not foll-"_

He yelled, not worrying about the mercs' gunfight outside. "She's got a place picked out for Garrus!"

Silence answered him. To her credit, Miranda's next reply was a direct answer to his question. _"Two units. I sent Kasumi to number 478. The other is on the second floor. I already sent Thane to-"_

"Where?"

_"Unit 294. There's a closer staircase to your position. Take the first right, then a left at the end of the hall. Staircase will be on your right."_

He was already moving before she finished giving the directions.

* * *

_Two Eclipse mercs. Human, salarian. Four meters away, two apart. Unaware. Rush up behind salarian. Biotic Pull to momentarily disable human. Grasp salarian as he jumps back in surprise. Neck-snap. Biotic Throw to neutralize floating human._

Thane sprinted out from his cover, his light footsteps making nowhere near as much noise as the fully-armored people he targeted. He sent the human flying with his biotics as he closed on the salarian.

Instead of leaping back, the alien turned and faced him.

_Tempest SMG, ready to fire. Dodge left, grasp wrist of firing arm. Watch for tech attacks from left hand._

The two wrestled for control of the weapon, the drell maintaining some control as he waited for an opening. The salarian's omni-tool began to glow with static charge. Thane poured some of his Biotic power into the grip, tightening his hand around the salarian's arm like a vice. A loud snap split the air, and the amphibian yelped, his overload attack discharging harmlessly into the ground. Thane heard a thump as the human landed. _Not enough time._

The salarian lifted his head as he moved his free arm toward the weapon.

_Jab to throat while unable to block._

The salarian coughed, his grip weakening as his free arm went from the weapon to his nearly-crushed windpipe. Thane pressed his advantage, shoving the muzzle of the gun against his stomach.

_Sustained close-range burst to sever spine._

The merc collapsed with a strangled yelp, and the drell yanked the gun from his limp hands. He turned toward the human, silencing the second merc with a burst of fire before she could stand. Thane pointed the weapon back at the salarian, whose glassy eyes stared blankly at the ceiling. He dropped the gun, heading over to the unit that the two were guarding.

His comm buzzed just before he could start hacking the door. _"Thane, urgent update."_

"Yes, Miranda?"

_"There's a room near you with a high chance of holding Garrus. Unit 294. It's-"_

"Twenty meters straight ahead, left, ten meters, right, third unit on the right," he said, recalling the map he had seen before entering the building. Thane set off at a run.

_"Correct. Be careful, the unit belongs to a suspected serial killer, an asari."_

He rounded the first corner, drawing his own SMG. Up ahead, several Blue Suns mercs slammed into a wall from his right, victims of a powerful Throw field. "I will use caution."

He peeked around a corner. Up ahead was a single asari in Eclipse armor, a series of indigo tattoos on her forehead nearly blending in with her deep blue skin. For the moment, she was distracted, Pulling a group of vorcha into the air. The asari Threw the suspended Blood Pack troops, launching them away at alarming speeds as the biotic fields collided.

_Dangerous biotic. Strike hard and fast. Close-range pistol shots to torso._

_Fifteen meters._

Thane rushed out of cover, his footsteps making hardly a sound as he closed in on his target.

_Ten._

She faced him, glowing blue and scowling. With a wave of the asari's hand, a cascade of explosions began to race toward him.

_Detonate._

Thane tossed a Warp field at the ground in front of him, not daring to slow down. The Shockwave hit the affected area, causing a rush of air and a flash of blue as the fields collided each other. He gripped his pistol and continued his charge, barely slowed down by the gust of wind.

_Five._

The asari dodged his first shot, sliding to the side in a blue blur. He pocketed his gun as she leapt into the air, her hand glowing blue as she prepared a biotic haymaker.

_Roll left._

Her attack slammed into the ground where he had been, the metal floor crumpling and buckling where her fist landed. Thane closed in, intending to end the fight with a blow to her head. She blocked the shot, her fists glowing with power as she attempted to smash the drell.

_Presure._

Thane weaved and dodged, hammering her with quick strikes in between her slower attacks. The asari yelled in anger, her own heavier attacks only catching air. Despite that, she was able to block a worrying amount of the drell's blows.

_Space._

Thane drew back his left hand, preparing and launching a quick Throw. The asari was able to read his biotic telegraphing, throwing up a barrier in between them.

_A flash of light. A wave of pressure. Ringing._

_Recover._

The drell rolled back to his feet, several meters away from where they had been fighting. The asari climbed to her own feet a similar distance away, a trickle of dark blue visible along one side of her face. She began to glow as Thane drew his SMG, breaking into a run as she charged forward.

_Bait._

Thane ran to meet her, his tempest firing a storm of poorly-aimed suppressive fire as they rushed toward each other. Only a scant few of the shots hit their mark, eliciting another yell as the asari's powerful barriers rippled from the impacts. Her arm began to glow blue as they closed in, winding back for a powerful blast. Thane's own arm began to glow as he kept to the middle of the hall.

_Feint._

Thane leaped to his right at the last moment, swinging his left arm out low as the asari's own attack sailed over his shoulder. The woman's momentum turned against her, crushing her abdomen against the drell's forearm as he spun behind her. He reached around with his right arm, gripping the asari's chin.

"You-" she spat. "I'll kill you. Your family, your friends. You'll all be a part of my collec-"

_Neck-snap._

He lowered her limp body to the ground, checking the surrounding area for more hostiles. When none came, he made his way to unit 294.

**Crash**

Thane's gun arm snapped up, pistol already drawn and pointed toward the intersection nearest the noise source. Without warning, a blue blur flew past his gun's sights, resolving into a red-and-gray-armored human, shotgun already leveled at him. The drell nearly pulled the trigger, but stopped as recognition kicked in. He holstered his weapon. "Shepard."

The Spectre released his own breath, lowering the shotgun. "Let's get this door open, Thane."

* * *

He was right; it didn't mean much at all.

"How long?"

Sidonis remained silent. Garrus, however, didn't intend to let him stay that way.

"How FUCKING long was it before he got to you, Sidonis? Did he tail you after a mission? Kidnap you and get you to spill everything? Threaten your family? Bribe you? Damn it, Sid. I could have helped you!"

The despondent turian across the room shook his head. "I worked with him for six years before he sent me after you. He didn't capture me, never tortured or broke me. No blackmail." The voice quivered, laced with sadness and guilt. "I acted on his behalf the entire time I've known you."

"So you never sold me out," Garrus said, his tone building in volume. "You were never a friend at all. You just let me take you in. You let me work with you- let me and my real allies live and think we were making a difference. And the whole time, you were plotting to kill us. Krul -FUCKING GRUNDAN KRUL- respected you. Sensat idolized you! Butler and Vortash covered your sorry ass more times than a salarian could count. Mel LOVED you, and you left her TO DIE! SPIRITS, I CONSIDERED YOU MY BROTHER AND YOU STILL-"

**"IT WAS THE BEST I COULD DO!"**

Garrus stopped, surprised by Lantar's sudden outburst. The other turian panted, but turned away once more. "It was all I could do to help you," he murmured, subdued.

"What do you mean, 'to help me'?" the flabbergasted turian asked.

"You... you were the only one I could save, Garrus..." Sidonis looked back at him, a fire kindling behind his own eyes. "My orders were strictly observation. 'Make sure Vakarian doesn't become a threat to the Broker or his interests.' Those were the exact words.

"At first, I reported exactly what I saw. 'Not interested in pursuing the Broker,' I said. 'Solely interested in extortion and the red sand trade,' I said. But then I saw the effects of what we were doing. The people of Omega started to hope, Garrus. Hope! In that cesspool of scum and wretches, we made the people begin to believe in what you were fighting for. _I_ began to believe in what you were fighting for. Slowly, I began to see it wasn't as much of a lost cause as I'd thought it was."

Sidonis sighed. "The time I spent on your squad meant more to me than anything I'd ever done before, whether for the Heirarchy or the Broker. So... I tried to protect you in my reports- underplayed your influence. 'He's only worried about a serial killer.' 'He doesn't want to take out ALL of the mercs, only those who cause trouble.' 'His attack only slowed production; he didn't shut down the largest red sand producer in the Terminus.' 'No, sir. I DON'T think he'd leave Omega and go after you if he discovered your hand in everything that went on there.'" He shook his head. "It got harder and harder for me to keep him off of you as time went on, but he began to see the holes in my stories. After you got away from Garm's ambush, he lost his faith in my ability to see the mission through."

He looked at Garrus again, his mandibles hanging loose with sorrow. "He gave me an ultimatum. 'In two weeks, Archangel's squad will no longer be a threat. Do what you have to to avoid being caught with them. You will be reassessed in your debriefing afterward.' He was going to kill me and the squad, Garrus. There was no way around that."

"But you could have told me!" Garrus yelled. "We could have done _something_. The squad didn't have to die!"

"They had to, Garrus," Sidonis whispered. He locked eyes with the other turian, knowing that tears would have been streaming down his face if turians could cry. "It was better that way." The conviction in the statement sent a shiver down Garrus's spine.

"You don't know that," he countered. By the time the words had passed his maw, he was already doubting they were true. Even so, he continued to deny it. "There are things we could have planned for- ways we could have defended ourselves. They could have-"

"I _do_ know, Garrus." Lantar's words stopped him dead in his tracks. "If the squad survived, you would have gone way beyond what Liara and Shepard had done. You would have become his number one target; the Broker would have sent everything at his disposal after us and our families."

"No..."

"What was Butler doing when he took that sniper shot to the head?"

Garrus's eyes widened. "How did you-"

"That bullet was meant for _you_, Garrus. The attack was supposed to start with a covert strike on the highest-ranked person in the building. The mercs would then storm the bridge and the tunnels during the confusion, take out as many as they could and then laying siege against any survivors. I say again: What was he doing?"

"He was... relaxing on the couch... About to have a smoke."

Sidonis nodded. "Would it have been better for his family to get dragged into it? For his wife and daughters to die for what he had gotten into? For him to live with the knowledge that he got them killed?"

It took less than a second for Garrus to find an answer. _He would have been haunted by it. He'd become a shell of his former self._ The thought of seeing the normally-cheery human waist-deep in despondence caused him to shiver. "No, but-"

"Would you have wanted Sensat to be forced into life as a fugitive? Spirits, that drell's had enough misery and hardship to last for both of our lifetimes, and she would never have been able to forget a single moment of it. Constantly fleeing and trying to stay ahead of the Broker would have destroyed her, Garrus. She was barely holding together as it was."

"But Mel was strong enough to-"

"Melanis..." Sidonis broke his gaze. "I've seen Tazzik's work before. Mel may have been the most talented infiltrator and close-combat specialist I've ever had the pleasure of knowing, but she wouldn't have stood a chance against him. He would have run circles around her, mocked her, toyed with her, embarrassed her." He closed his eyes. "Fighting him the way Mel preferred is its own form of torture. She was... special... And I failed to protect her from the Broker's wrath. I couldn't have made her suffer more than she had to. She didn't deserve to go out like that."

Sidonis fell silent, retreating into his own thoughts as the weight of his words sunk into Garrus's mind. He remembered the message he'd received when he awoke after the other turian had knocked him out, so many weeks ago.

_Your people are going to die. If they haven't already, they will soon... I know it's hardly a consolation, but this was the lesser of the two evils. GET OUT WHILE YOU CAN!_

"Spirits," he muttered, realizing the truth behind Sid's words. "But why did you save me? Why not Mel or Butler?"

"They wouldn't have gotten far. You were the best and brightest of us, Garrus. If any of us could have gotten away from there without being caught or killed, it was you. I wouldn't. I didn't." He bowed his head lower. "Mel had a chance, but unlike you, she would have had nowhere to go. Butler would have tried to save his family, and that would be the first place the Broker would go to set a trap. You were brilliant, Garrus, but your greatest strength was in leading the team. Without us..." He shook his head. "He wouldn't have considered you as much of a threat. I hoped you would rejoin to C-Sec, show the Broker that you were no longer a danger to him. Of course, nobody planned on you getting rescued by your recently-undead commander," he added with a light chuckle. "So I guess, in that way I succeeded, even if it only worked for a couple of months. Still, I wish I could have done more... for the others. I still see them- I see _her_ every night. Always accusing me, damning me. Always demanding to know why they had to die. I should have been the one to run back, not you. I was too wea-"

Their heads snapped around, the door opening and flooding the room with light.

_This is it... Spirits, I wish I could have apologized to-_

"Garrus! Are you in there?"

"Shepard?"

To the turian's infinite delight, the familiar form of the human Spectre walked into his field of view. "Spirits, how'd you find me?"

Shepard stared momentarily, but shook himself. "Kasumi tailed them. She led us here."

Garrus's mandibles spread in a smile. _At least she's okay._ "Well it seems I owe her a drink. I'd help you get one, too but..." He yanked at his bindings, the metal chain rattling.

"Right," the commander said, leaning over to remove the restraints from Garrus's wrists. The turian could see Thane over the human's shoulder.

He nodded toward the human. "You'd almost think he didn't recognize me."

The drell blinked. "In his defense, I can understand why."

Garrus smirked. "Come on, they didn't beat me enough to top taking a rocket to the face."

The Spectre finished with his arms, leaning away. "Actually, it's something else."

"The visor?" he asked, leaning forward to work off his own leg restraints. "I didn't think that was the only thing you'd remember me by."

"Actually, it's the armor."

He looked up, confused.

"Indeed," Thane said. "I have never seen him without it either."

Garrus's eyes darted between the two. "Come on, you can't be serious!"

"Come to think of it," Sidonis added, "you never took it off on Omega either."

"Yeah, but that was Omega," Garrus said, getting to his (newly-freed) feet. "I'm sure I've took it off once or twice on the Normandy."

Shepard shook his head and handed Garrus a pistol, covered in green blood. "Never."

"Not on this Normandy," Thane added.

Garrus scratched his head, a memory coming to mind. "Come on, I'm sure there was this one time, a party or something. I remember I was wearing a suit. Liara, Ash, and Tali were there, and Wrex too. Pretty sure I saw your face there once or twice. Weird thing, though- it was the only time I've ever seen Liara and Ash wearing black at the same time."

"My funeral doesn't count, Garrus. I wasn't even there!"

The turian's mandibles flared, his jaw dropping.

"Ah..."

Thane gestured to Sidonis, speaking to diffuse the tense atmosphere. "Who is the other turian?"

Garrus's head swung toward the chained man, whose mild grin turned to droopy despondence.

_He saved your life._

_He killed my team._

The pistol in Garrus's hand began to rise, and Sidonis closed his eyes.

_He led us into a trap._

_Whose fault is it you fell for the trap?_

The turian could tell that Shepard was saying something, trying to wrest the gun from his grip. The human backed off as he shook his head, and the seated turian spoke.

"Please make it quick."

_It's his fault._

_It's your fault._

Garrus closed his eyes.

_He killed all of them._

_Like how you killed Tali?_

_That... I don't know for sure._

_And if you did?_

He opened them.

He fired twice.

Sidonis opened his eyes, his breath hitching from surprise. "What-" He looked around, seeing not a bullet wound on his body.

His wrist restraints were destroyed.

The former spy slowly lifted his arms, as if shocked that they still existed. He patted himself down, but didn't hiss until he bumped the nub of his severed finger against one of his plates.

"Why?" he asked, realizing he was still intact.

Garrus directed his words at Shepard, instead of the other turian. "Sidonis trained to be ambidextrous, just in case he was wounded. He can help us find Tali."

He held out his scavenged pistol, allowing Lantar to pick it up with his good hand. The turian ejected the thermal clip, catching it with his poor hand with a wince and reloading it with the same heat sink. The two turians locked eyes. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, Sid. I'm sure."

The agent nodded, his face setting with determination.

"I won't let you down again, Garrus."

* * *

_"We've found Garrus."_

Miranda found herself grinning. _At least we have some good news._ "Understood, Shepard. Is he injured?"

_"Negative. They stripped his armor, but we've recovered some weapons for him from the mercs. He's covering our tail at the moment."_ There was a pause before he continued. _"Did Kasumi find Tali?"_

Her grin fell. "It was full of deactivated mechs. No sign of her." Silence answered the woman. "But C-Sec's arrived. I've sent Jacob's team in. From what I've heard, the Blue Suns' presence has been virtually wiped out, and the Eclipse are in full retreat. If you bring Garrus downstairs, they can-"

_"No. We don't have time for that. Just... Where's the next unit located?"_

* * *

Jacob couldn't help but marvel at C-Sec's response team.

The officers had divided into groups of three, all leapfrogging each other as the teams opened and cleared the storage units in record time. Their cohesion was astounding, not a single officer standing idle for more than a moment. One would hack the door. The other two would have guns drawn as the door opened. As one of the two announced their presence, the third would sweep and clear the room. Meanwhile, the hacker would sprint on to the next unopened unit, already hacking it before the rest of the team caught up.

All in all, it was a remarkable display of team cohesion. He wouldn't have been surprised if the whole floor was cleared within the next five minutes.

Of course, he had his own surprising instance of team unity to worry about.

"Go!"

As one, he and Jack stormed their way up the stairs to the second floor. They kicked out the (already dented) door, sweeping their shotguns from side to side as they stepped out of the staircase.

"Clear."

Grunt and Zaeed followed them out, their guns at the ready. Jacob pumped his fist twice, and the other biotic nodded, moving off to the right with Zaeed. Grunt began to move off to his left, while he stared down the hallway straight in front of him. Three clicks toned on his comm, and he readied his shotgun.

"Move."

The four of them moved as one, striding down parallel hallways to the first path that crossed them. With another click of Jacob's mike, he burst around the corner. A pair of vorcha hissed at him, readying their weapons from just outside shotgun range as he heard the sound of assault rifle fire from behind him. The soldier ignored the gunshots, sending a Pull at one of the vorcha. Another biotic attack contacted his target from behind, causing a biotic detonation that knocked out the other Blood Pack trooper. Jacob spun around, catching sight of Zaeed reloading his assault rifle, another vorcha laying at his feet.

With a nod from Jacob, they moved again, finding the next lateral hallway devoid of hostiles. Before they could move to the third, they heard the sound of gunfire from up ahead. Jacob held up a hand, signaling them to freeze.

All eyes slid to him as they found cover. Jack cupped a hand to her ear, waving it slightly back and forth. _What's the plan?_

Jacob thought for a moment, considering his options. He held his gun up, making a fist with his free hand. He knocked his hands together twice, first wrist-to-wrist, then his knuckles from his free hand bumping the ones on the grip of his shotgun. Jack nodded, then moved over to Grunt's position. The Cerberus operative, meanwhile, ran over to Zaeed. Together, the two of them moved further along the hall that Zaeed had been moving down, the sounds of gunfire growing louder as they went. The man drew on his biotic powers, creating a stronger barrier around himself. They stopped at the nexus of hallways, and he clicked twice on his comm. _Ready?_ Two bursts of static answered him.

He clicked it once more, and charged around the corner.

They emerged behind a pair of Blue Suns mercs, who were firing downrange at an alarming amount of vorcha. Jack and Grunt crashed into the vorcha from behind as he watched, their ranks torn apart by a combination of biotics and two hundred kilos of muscle and rock-hard scales. Jacob wasted no time dispatching one of the Suns, his shotgun barking with fury. He left the other one to Zaeed, hearing a yelp of surprise. The soldier switched to his pistol, keeping his shots slow and measured so as to avoid hitting Jack and the charging krogan. Within moments, the last Blood Pack merc fell. Jacob lowered his gun and turned to Zaeed, only to see the bounty hunter slam the last Suns merc against a wall.

"Tell me where he is, Vosque!"

The merc, who was bleeding profusely from one shoulder, let out a yelp of pain. "I don't know who you're-"

Zaeed slammed the man's wounded arm into the wall again, cutting him off. "Vido Santiago. Where the hell is he?"

"I don't know! Nobody knows nowadays. Went into hiding after something happened at a plant on Zorya. He doesn't tell anyone anything anymore, I swear!"

"Zaeed!" Jacob barked. "Put him down."

"Not likely." The man was growling now, his eyes not leaving the man pressed between himself and the cold steel of the wall. "I'm not wasting my best possible goddamn lead on this station when he might know-"

"I meant on the ground."

"Oh. Well why didn't you say so?" He tossed the man on the ground, drawing a pistol as the Sun splayed across the floor. "Would've saved me a lot of goddamn stress." He pressed a knee against the man's back, eliciting a hiss from the merc. "Me and Darner here can hear each other a lot better this way now, can't we?"

"We have a mission to complete, Zaeed."

"And I've got someone I need to find. Give me a few minutes, and I'll-"

"Zaeed. The mission comes first."

The former merc stared daggers at him, then at the whimpering form at his feet.

Zaeed stayed where he was, not moving for several seconds. Jacob tightened his grip on the pistol, noting the blade tucked into a wicked-looking scabbard on the bounty hunter's armor.

_Damn it, this thing with Vido better not-_

"Fine."

Jacob raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"I said, 'Fine.'"Zaeed reached into a pocket on his belt, pulling out two sets of handcuffs. "Let me bag him for C-Sec. I'll have a lovely chat with him at the station later, after we're done with his goddamn mooks."

"That's... good." Jacob began to walk toward Jack, who looked similarly perplexed by the situation. "Sound off when you're ready."

"Will do."

Jacob stopped by his designated hallway, but was surprised when Jack stepped closer. "Funny, I had a feeling he'd just flip you off and shoot you."

He rubbed his shoulder, shuddering at the size of Zaeed's knife. "Yeah, you're not the only one. And not that I'm complaining, but I'm surprised you're even talking to me."

Jack snorted, her booming laughter setting Jacob on alert as it echoed through the hallways. Thankfully, nothing shot at them.

"Easy, Major Neutrality. It's because you're not Cerberus."

His jaw felt as if it had turned into rubber and solid concrete simultaneously, his mouth opening wide in shock. "What are you-"

"Save it," she cut in. "Let's just say I know a thing or two about when someone's really fighting for something, and when they just want to look like it. You-" She pointed a finger at him. "You're not doing any of this shit for Cerberus. You're really fighting for Shepard." She broke out into another snicker. "His cause at least. Doubt that quarian would like the competition, though I'd pay to see you two in a cage fight." She turned away, walking back to the other passageway. "Anyway, I can respect that. Even if it makes you one really fucking conflicted pussy."

Jacob's jaw worked open and closed several times, the man not sure what to say. Only after Zaeed had signaled his readiness did he manage to find any words.

"Thanks, I think."

* * *

Garrus pulsed the trigger on his scavenged avenger, sending several bursts of fire toward a Blood Pack trooper. The vorcha hissed as the rounds tore into him, eventually crumpling from the volume of fire. He swung his assault rifle toward another merc, only to see a blue explosion as Shepard Charged into it. Sidonis's pistol barked twice, silencing a third vorcha with a headshot.

"All clear," the Spectre called, dispatching the one he'd Charged with a blast from his katana.

The four of them made their way to a doorway, forming up along the wall. Shepard took point, going through to the staircase beyond.

"Garrus, I know this might be a bad time, but..."

"All clear."

Thane led the two turians through as Garrus turned to answer. "What is it, Sidonis?"

"I just wanted to know... How did Mel..."

Garrus turned to him as they passed a landing between floors. The look in the other turian's eyes was beyond tortured, full of sorrow.

_I can give him that much_.

"I read Vortash's last log," he said, continuing his climb. "Grenade went off behind her while she waited for her armor to recharge from using the cloak. Shrapnel wounds all along her back. A piece lodged itself in her brain stem. It... would have been instant."

"Thank you," the other turian mumbled. "At least she didn't suff-"

"Kreete! I said to get them under control, not start a goddamn war!"

The four of them stopped, Shepard having just opened the door to the third floor. "That's him," Garrus murmured. "The krogan that works for the Shadow Broker."

Sidonis hummed in agreement. "Karn. If anyone here knows what's happened to your quarian, it'll be him."

Shepard nodded, taking point as they walked out to the third floor. Garrus could see a large service elevator off to the right, as well as an opening to a much wider atrium across from it.

"Not my fault they doesssn't lisssen."

"Shut up! Go make yourself useful and check on her. I'd rather not have that turn to crap as well."

Garrus tilted his head to the right, an act mirrored by Thane. _He's over there._ Shepard nodded, and they crept up to the corner. The Spectre peeked around the lip of the wall, then held up a fist with three fingers.

Two.

One.

They burst around the corner, guns leveled at the krogan as a vorcha ran off. The merc reached the safety of a narrower side hallway as the krogan turned, the pitter-patter of its clawed feet echoing as he ran. Karn, meanwhile, locked eyes with Garrus, a growl echoing through the room.

"So Archangel escaped."

"Where is she?" Shepard demanded.

Karn lifted an arm, a rounded projectile launching straight toward Garrus.

_Spirits, not ag-_

Something shoved him, and his world erupted in a burst of heat and noise.

* * *

John tried to ignore seeing the explosion -particularly how _blue_ it had been- as he fired his shotgun.

_He's alright. I know he's going to be alright._

Karn roared as the first shots from Shepard's weapon hit, bringing his left arm over his face. A large red disk glowed to life from the krogan's omni-tool, absorbing and deflecting Shepard's subsequent shots. The omni-shield retracted, and the krogan pointed his arm at the Spectre.

_Oh, no you don't._

He Charged toward the krogan, slamming into Karn just as another grenade fired from his wrist. The shot went wide, impacting the ceiling and raining dust over the area. Shepard fired his shotgun once. Twice.

Karn's fist slammed into him before he could fire a third time, sending him flying off into a wall. He lay there for a moment, dazed as the sound of gunfire continued.

_Get up._

John shook his head, his vision clearing in time to see Thane being knocked aside in a manner not unlike what had happened to himself. He prepared for another Charge.

Karn saw him, activating his omni-shield just before Shepard to slammed into it. The red envelope of protective energy shattered from the impact, but the human's shotgun was left pointing at air.

_Where did he-_

He felt another punch connect from his right, nearly sending him flying once more.

Shepard regained his bearings, sending a Shockwave at the krogan. Karn activated his omni-shield, planting the device's edge in the ground and backing away. It continued to glow as it disconnected from his omni-tool, detonating as the biotic attack reached it. Meanwhile, the krogan had retreated to a safe distance, and was already targeting the drell once more.

_So that's how he dodged me._

Karn fired another grenade at Thane, who dove to the side to avoid the attack. The weapon blew a hole in one of the walls, the sheet metal plating forming jagged edges. John tossed a Pull at one of the larger pieces, easily tearing it free from the wall. He looked over to where the krogan and drell were fighting, once more tangled in close range combat because of the krogan's shield.

_Wait for it..._

He mustered his biotic power as he waited, watching the two exchange blows. The drell managed to land several biotic-enhanced punches, but Karn absorbed them, regenerating almost as soon as he was wounded.

_Wait for it..._

The krogan roared, finally grasping hold of Thane and violently slinging him aside.

Shepard struck, tossing a Throw at the still-hovering piece of sheet metal. The biotic fields detonated with a mighty bang, sending the hunk of steel careening toward the krogan. Karn barely had time to turn around before it struck him.

The hulk of metal almost completely passed through the warrior, impaling him against the floor.

The two cautiously approached the pinned soldier, weapons drawn. To neither of their surprise, the hardy krogan was still breathing as they closed in.

"Tell me where she is."

Karn coughed repeatedly, his face grinning despite his wounds.

"Tell me where you have Tali!" John demanded again, his voice climbing in volume.

The krogan coughed louder, the smile even more evident. "You're... *cough* too late, Shepard."

_Don't let him get to you. _"Funny, that's what Saren thought. And unlike him, I doubt the Broker has a synthetic army to back him up."

Karn coughed again, a laugh breaking through his ravaged lungs. "This... isn't about armies, Shepard. This... is unlike any... fight you've ever been in. Information *cough* is his... deadliest weapon."

"I don't care whether he uses guns, germs, or people as weapons. I will find her."

"Someone will find her... but it won't... be you." He laughed even louder as a tone emanated from his omni-tool.

_Shit._

John grabbed Thane and Charged. Before they'd gotten more than a meter away, the krogan's omni-tool exploded. Shepard lost control of the Charge in the wake of the explosion, sent flying through the air. All too quickly, the ground rushed up to meet him.

He and Thane landed in a crumpled heap of limbs, laying there a moment as they caught their breath. Eventually, the drell lifted his head.

"You used me as bait."

Shepard shrugged. "I needed a diversion."

Thane laughed as he extricated himself. "Indeed." The commander also climbed to his feet, a smile on his face. His spirits fell as his gaze traveled around the room, the destruction from the krogan's wrist-mounted grenade launcher clearly evident.

"Spirits!"

The two of them looked to the epicenter of a blue-tinted scorch mark. There on the floor sat a single turian, his eyes shut and his blue-tattooed face as scrunched as a turian's could be as he slowly tried to sit up.

"Garrus!"

The two of them rushed to his side. "Don't move, Garrus. You're safe for now."

"Remind me to stop having close encounters with flying explosives," the turian said with a nervous laugh as he looked up at them. His expression quickly dropped as he began to look around. "Where's Sid?"

John looked down, again noticing just how _blue_ the floor around the explosion had become.

"He took the shot for you, Garrus," Thane replied. "He... wasn't wearing armor."

_Very blue._

"Damn," the turian muttered. "But you took down both of them at least, right? Karn and that vorcha?"

_Wait, Karn told the vorcha to check on "her"..._

Shepard rushed off down the hallway that the vorcha had taken, ignoring Thane's protests to wait as he drew his pistol.

_Why didn't I see that sooner?_

He went past an intersection, seeing a single unit with its door open off to his left. He squeezed himself against the wall by the door frame, taking a deep breath.

_Please let her be okay._

The Spectre turned the corner with his gun raised, getting a glimpse of what seemed to be a relatively-empty unit. A single vorcha was lying on the floor next to a table in the middle of the room.

A glimpse was all he saw, as a hand yanked him into the room from the other side of the door frame. His pistol was knocked out of his hands with a blow to his wrists. He reached for his SMG as the other gun clattered on the floor, trying to turn and get a look at his assailant. Before he could draw it, his wrist was snagged in a tight three-fingered grip. He turned his head to the side.

He found himself staring straight into the tip of a red-tinged knife.

"John?"

_Wait... that voice..._

"Tali?"

The dagger dropped, plummeting to the ground as his assailant released it. It sang with a single clear note as the blade clashed with the metal floor.

"JOHN!"

The Spectre was spun around as slim arms wrapped around his waist. The figure crashed into him, forcing the man back out into the hall. "Keelah, I was so worried about you."

John looked down, seeing a familiar purple cloth adorned with swirls and a pair of white stripes. He smiled and wrapped his arms around her rubberized suit, feeling, for once, as if the incident on the shuttle had turned out for the better. "Funny, I was going to say the same thing." Meanwhile, the quarian in his arms shook her head, and continued to speak._  
_

"Not as much as I was. If you could've heard what that krogan said... I was starting to think the Bro-"

Her speech suddenly cut off as she tensed in his arms.

"Tali, what's wron-"

She violently pushed him aside as a single gunshot rang out. He hit the ground, the sound of SMG fire permeating the air. There was a thud and a clatter as something landed next to him. He rolled over, catching a glimpse of a salarian in yellow armor, gripping fiercely to a group of green-tinted holes in his armor. The SMG rattled again, and the alien stilled. John felt a tight grip clamp around his hand. Tali helped him back up to his feet, and he turned his eyes from the merc to the gloved hand that held so tightly to his.

"Sorry about that, John. He got a little too close for comfort." She handed back his SMG, which she'd apparently snatched from his waist before gunning down the merc.

"It's okay, Tali," he said, accepting the weapon. He put it on the magnetic strip on his back, and finally got a chance to look at the woman properly. "I appreci-"

_Oh my God..._

"John, are you alright?"

* * *

_Why is he just standing there? Maybe this is some delayed human symptom of shock? I didn't shove him down THAT hard, did I?_

Tali frowned, examining the human in front of her for any obvious signs of damage.

Or, rather, _excessive_ damage.

The man's torso armor was a mess of crumpled, torn, and burned scrap metal. His other armor looked relatively intact, but the whole ensemble was coated in multiple layers of blood of varying colors.

An alarming amount of it was red.

"Keelah, John. I told you to stay safe." Her eyes darted back up to his face, where several bruises and a set of cuts marred his skin. "You look like you've been mauled by a varren."

"Three, actually," the human said. His gaze flicked repeatedly over her body, making her feel more than a little self-conscious. "But seriously, are _you_ alright? Do you need medi-gel? Some antibiotics? Suit patches? Blood transfusions?"

Tali shook her head, double-checking the diagnostic light inside her visor in the time it took to move it left to right. "He missed. But nothing's broken or ruptured, if that's what you mean." He continued to look over her, the quarian noticing a slight shiver from the human. _Something's still bothering him. _"Why do you ask?" she added, her head tilting in confusion.

"Um, well... You're... covered..."

"Covered? In what?"

John looked slightly queasy as he gestured with his hand. The quarian looked down.

"Keelah, that's A LOT of blood."

From her neckline to her knees, her entire suit had been drenched with red. Some of it had already started to harden, forming rust-colored plates over the flexible portions of her sh'rayan.

"Oh hyel-" She cut herself off, clearing her throat. "It's not mine, really. It's... um... his." The quarian pointed back into the room she had been in. The single vorcha was still on the ground next to a table, a gigantic pool of red coating everything within two meters of it.

"I honestly didn't know vorcha could bleed that much," she explained. "I managed to cut what they had me bound with, but it was like my knife was barely doing anything to him."

"They let you have your knife?" the Spectre asked, surprise lacing his tone.

"Of course not, or at least I imagine they didn't think I'd get it." Tali noted that a large hole in the table's surface was still visible from where they stood, across the room. She grinned, remembering how she'd gotten out of her dire situation. "Let's just say, I had some good motivation."

"Motivation that can get you to free yourself from kidnappers, grab a weapon, and run out without even noticing you're... like that?" He appeared torn between admiration, relief, and mirth as he placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'd like to know how that came about. Sounds pretty handy."

"R-right," she murmured. Her cheeks began to burn as she turned toward his hand. She felt something stir within her; a part of her wanted to laugh and move closer to his hand and its extra digits. But something else made her shake her head.

"John... I need to apologize."

He raised an eyebrow. "What for?"

"I failed you. I promised I'd keep Garrus from going too far, but look where it's gotten us. Both of us kidnapped, me nearly used as bait for some plan of the Broker's. And by now, he's probably been killed by Sidonis or that krogan, Karn." She looked down, her red-tinted gloves hanging limp with disappointment. "I'm sorry, John. This is all my-"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence, Tali."

The two of them turned around. Thane was slowly walking toward them, half-carrying an unarmored turian. She almost didn't recognize him, but there was no mistaking the voice and clan paint as he hopped forward, one leg held gingerly in the air and tied to a rod in a makeshift splint. "If anyone's to blame for this, it's me."

"Garrus," she gasped. "You're-"

"No pouncing quarian hugs, please. I'd rather not break my other leg." A mischievous glint in the turian's eye faded, leaving his expression somber. "Look, Tali. It's my fault for not listening to you and Kasumi. I was... too fixated on Sid to see the big picture. _I_ sprung the Broker's trap, not you. None of this needed to happen, and Sidonis..." He bowed his head. "I'm... sorry. For all of this."

"Apology accepted, Gare."

Kasumi chose that moment to appear in their midst, popping into sight with a devilish grin. All four of them leaped into the air, with Garrus nearly falling over until Thane helped him back upright.

"Spirits, Kasumi," the turian muttered. "You nearly gave me a heart attack."

"Good," the thief said to Garrus, fishing something out of one of her pockets. "Means you just might deserve to have this back." She held out her hand, a familiar-looking object sitting on her palm. A dark, curving band of metal sat in her palm, with a several of hooks and grips on one end. The other had a large bar pointing outward, a pair of smaller struts pointing out of it. The thief touched a hidden switch, and the spaces between the bars began to glow a light blue as a holographic interface flickered to life.

_His visor!_

The turian gingerly picked up the object, as if afraid it would snap in two from his touch. Thane helped him sit down on a nearby rock, then began to walk toward Tali. "How?" Garrus asked.

"They left through a back door. I scooped it up when I was tailing them, figured I'd save you having to get a new one."

Garrus thumbed off the display and flipped the visor in his hands. He ran his talon along several series of characters that Tali couldn't read, his digit resting at one group that appeared to have been scribbled over. Thane stepped closer to Tali, speaking in a hushed whisper.

"Shepard is lucky that the salarian missed," he said with a nod to the Eclipse merc's body. "It's a good thing his _siha_ was there to protect him."

She gave him a cagey glance. "You still haven't told me what that means."

He didn't respond, only grinning as he sat down next to the wounded turian. "I still think I should get a replacement," Garrus murmured, oblivious to their exchange.

Tali stole a glance at Shepard, who had raised a finger to his ear. She couldn't help but smile as he spoke, asking for a medic to come for Garrus. Though his own armor was utterly demolished, she realized now that the vast majority of the red liquid on it had come from when she'd hugged him.

_At least John's still in one piece._

"Why's that, Garrus?" She barely caught the sound of Kasumi's voice, let alone Garrus's answer.

"His name shouldn't be scratched out."

* * *

_Mission report 015: Lazarus Cell_

_From: Operative Miranda Lawson_

_To: The Illusive Man_

_Illusive Man,_

_Shepard was successful in resolving Thane's concerns about his son. In the process, we discovered that there are significant anti-human powers in Citadel politics. We may have to support criminals like Elias Kelham in order to counter this bias, in addition to our pull within Terra Firma._

_More concerning is a revelation from Garrus's attempts to track Lantar Sidonis, a former ally of his from his time as the Archangel. According to Garrus, his late comrade was an agent for the Shadow Broker. Archangel's dire situation on Omega was orchestrated by the Broker, who apparently had similar intentions for all of Shepard's former squad members. While Urdnot Wrex is the least likely to be successfully targeted, and Shepard is sure to alert his former squad members who are not on the SR2, the SR1's crew manifest included other survivors that could be used against Shepard. **[Link: Dossier: Lieutenant Greg Adams]** His former crew members' families may also be targeted. **[Link: Dossier: Lieutenant Charles Pressly]**_

_In addition, we discovered that the Broker was collaborating with the Collectors during the attempt to recover Shepard's body from Liara T'Soni two years ago. I recommend we allocate resources to locate the Broker immediately, as he poses a serious threat to this crew._

_We were lucky to get out of the trap he laid for Garrus._

The Illusive man grumbled as he closed the message. He tapped his omni-tool, bringing up a contact. Within moments, a voice spoke from a speaker under his seat.

_"Sir?"_

"I want you to forward me everything we have on the Shadow Broker. Focus on narrowing down his possible haunts. Hiding places, caches, shell companies, accounts, the works. I want updates every eight hours."

_"Understood, sir. Forwarding current intel now."_

The call closed without another word, leaving the Illusive Man thankful that his agent hadn't protested. He perused the file on his inbox, a frown crossing his face at the meager amount of theories and possible targets in the text. _We are attempting something that the Council has been unsuccessful at for decades, if not centuries._ He bowed his head, pinching the bridge of his nose. _Cerberus isn't omniscient... yet. We'll probably need assistance with this matter, but who-_

The answer hit him like a dreadnought traveling at FTL.

"Liara..." His mind kicked into overdrive. _She's helped us before. Who better to use than someone who's dedicated the past two years to the same task?_ Of course, the woman hadn't entirely trusted them back then; it had taken much needling just to get an initial response from her.

_But for Shepard..._

He nodded. The Spectre was their ace-in-the-hole. _Even if Liara T'soni didn't trust Cerberus, she would still trust her former lover. I'll gather as much as I can, then give it to him to forward to her. She'll lead Shepard to the Broker without having to contact us, and we can send Shepard without her if we find a concrete lead before then. Either way, we'll have the jump on the Broker._

The Illusive Man quickly composed a memo for EDI, telling the AI to inform him of Shepard's next trip to Illium. He lit a cigarette as he minimized the many screens and readouts in front of him, trying to relax as he gazed at the filtered image of a dying star.

But something was still bothering him.

Try as he might, he couldn't shake his suspicions about a particular member of Shepard's squad. She could still be trusted to do her duty, for the time being. But between recent events and the issue with the Broker, something was setting off an alarm in his head.

And he felt that it wasn't just a paranoia-fueled fire drill.

_Action needs to be taken,_ he thought as he opened another communication line. He began speaking as soon as the call connected.

"Leng, I want you to drop what you're doing. Head to Illium immediately."

_"Sir?"_

"The Shadow Broker has been targeting former members of Shepard's crew. I want you there in case things get out of hand."

Even over the audio-only link, the Illusive Man could sense the scowl on the assassin's face. _"T'soni? I'm not going to protect some worthless piece of azure-"_

"You won't have to," he cut in before Leng could continue his rant. "I have something else in mind." He brought up a file, forwarding it to his most-trusted servant. There was a pause as the man perused the message.

_"Asset Echo?"_

"Yes." There was another silence as the man on the other end read his directive more thoroughly. After about a minute, a single response came before the line was cut.

_"Consider it done."_

* * *

**Note from the author:  
*****Nurses black eye* ...And that's why I split it into two chapters**

**p.s. Holy shiitake-kebabs, Batman!  
Wasn't expecting this one to wind up being longer than the last, but there you go**

**p.p.s. Special thanks to Bofomania, for reminding me of why it's generally a better idea to wait until morning to proofread and post.  
I threw in about 500 more words, and the chapter's definitely better for it.**

**p.p.p.s. Nicholas Glass was created by Levi Matthews for _Finding a Way_ and is used by permission.**


	13. Late Nights and Friendly Wagers

12: Late Nights and Friendly Wagers

"Really, Shepard, a paramilitary raid on a privately-owned storage facility? I thought you'd had enough of that after you plundered Chora's Den. We're still getting the casualty reports for Spirits' sake. Do we have to draft ordinances telling business owners to close up whenever you come within fifty meters? If this keeps up-"

"That was a joint-effort sting with C-Sec, Sparatus. Shepard's not the only actor here. And despite your misgivings, we did arrest over a dozen suspected criminals, managed to account for the heads of the Suns, Eclipse, and Blood Pack for this star cluster, and seized several tons of illegal goods. He's doing you a favor!"

_Thank goodness for Bailey's report._

Shepard masked his thanks as he stood silently next to Councilor David Anderson. The two of them stared at the peach-hued hologram of the turian council member as John's former captain continued to speak. "I've seen the same reports you have, Sparatus. Bagging Jona Sederis alone is a huge boon to the fight against the Eclipse's operations in this whole sector, let alone the fact we captured a high-ranking member of the Blue Suns alive."

"There is still the nature of the events that led to the operation," a higher-pitched voice chimed in. As one, the two humans turned to the hologram of the salarian chairperson, Councilor Valern. "All of the evidence supporting a police sting was circumstantial, at best. We'll be lucky if we can keep any of the mercenaries incarcerated for longer than a day."

"There's also the two hostages you just so happened to _rescue_," Sparatus quipped, curling his taloned fingers in air-quotes. "Tali'Zorah and Garrus Vakarian were both part of your squad before. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you sent them to get captured just so you'd have an excuse to attack the building."

"That's enough!" The Spectre finally lost his composure, barely reining in a biotic flare as his face melted into a frown. "I would never endanger any of my crew members -my friends- so carelessly, past or present."

"So says the man who hijacked a ship on lockdown and raced it across the galaxy with those same 'friends' to start a conflict outside Council jurisdiction that could have bloomed into a pan-galactic war."

"If I hadn't gone to Ilos you would all be-"

"Gentlemen, please." The asari councilor, Tevos, cut him off, her own hologram's head turning from Sparatus to Shepard. "We acknowledge your previous services to this council, but we did request that you contain your operations to the Terminus. Between your actions at Kunyalt Storage and your involvement in an assassination attempt on a turian political officer-"

"I helped save his life!" Shepard boomed, but the asari continued as if she hadn't heard.

"-I'm afraid your motivations have been called into question. We have no choice but to disbar you from acting in the Council's name. Until you can verify that you've completely severed ties to Cerberus, your Spectre status is hearby revoked."

"This is an outrage!" Anderson yelled. "He's done nothing but help us at every turn. We can't just toss him aside like this!"

"Facts are facts, Anderson," Valern replied. "He was sighted with a suspected assassin in the wards and said suspect's son was the instigating party in the attempt. Regardless of our own opinions, we can't associate officially with someone involved with both a xenocentric terrorist organization and an attempt on the life of a politician of another species. Our hands are tied."

"Bullshit! You can cover up the reaper threat but you can't look past-"

"You discharged a weapon in that room in front of C-Sec! Anyone else would have been arrested on sight. You could have easily hit-"

"But I didn't! Without that diversion, Talid could have-"

"Enough, Shepard!" Tevos had to yell to make herself heard over the human. Her own biotics flared, temporarily giving the appearance of an inferno through the orange-tinted hologram. "We can allow you to leave the station in peace, and we won't send anyone after you as you were after Saren. Regardless, you will be detained the next time you come to the Citadel, pending an investigation into your ties to Cerberus and the attempt on Joram Talid's life."

"You should consider yourself lucky you're getting this much." Sparatus jerked his head upward, exposing his neck as he folded his arms. "Good day."

The three aliens' holograms winked out without further comment, leaving the human soldier seething.

_Fuck you, too._

He could hear the remaining councilor's exhale, laced with a low hiss as the human softly shook his head. "I'm sorry, Shepard. I was hoping things wouldn't get this bad, but-"

"'This bad'!" the newly-exiled soldier snapped. He glared at his former commander, his anger abating somewhat at the pained look of defeat on the man's face. The sight seemed to include dozens of additional creases in the man's skin, ones that weren't there when he'd stepped into the human embassy a few minutes ago. "I thought they needed unanimous approval on this sort of thing," he said, dulling the bite of his words. "At least for anything to do with the Spectres."

"It used to be, but they changed it to a three-person majority while you were..." Their eyes met, and Shepard looked away. "It's an old rule," the councilman continued. "From the last time there was potential for a four-person council."

Shepard lifted his eyes from the floor. "What do you mean, 'the last time'?"

"None of the asari like to talk about it, but the quarians lost more than an embassy after their first war with the geth. They used to have the strongest industrial sector of any known species, and an economy that eclipsed that of the volus. At their peak, they were in the same position humanity was in two years ago. They had candidates being considered for Spectrehood, and they were lobbying for support to gain a seat on the Council. The Council had even ratified new regulations for themselves, preparing for the day the quarians would stand with them.

"But all of that changed when the geth rebelled. Their ambassador fought as hard as he could, but the Council said their war was a threat to the general public. They didn't want to drag everyone into a conflict that was just a 'quarian issue'. The Council quietly rejected the quarians' attempt to join their ranks. When they quarians lost Rannoch, the Council said it was proof that they could no longer support themselves as an independent galactic power. When they pushed for support for an attempt to reclaim their homeworld, the quarians lost their embassy with it."

"Wait, why would-" Shepard's brain caught up with his ears. _First the geth, and now the collectors..._ The N7 graduate's eyes widened as his jaw met the floor of the lobby a level below.

"You're afraid the same thing's happening now."

"Yes," Anderson muttered with a sigh. "Udina's already pulled his support for me in an attempt to save face for the embassy, but Sparatus won't rest until everything's back to what he sees as the status quo." The man took a deep breath. "Which is why I have to resign."

"What?!"

For his part, the councilor strode over to the balcony in silence. Shepard followed him, standing next to the man as he leaned forward against the guard rail overlooking the Presidium. The quiet tranquility of the expansive park clashed with the soldier's agitated mind, its brightly-lit but empty walkways ignorant of the fact that it was nearly midnight.

"What about our council seat?"

"I'm asking Anita Goyle to take over for me. She's Udina's predecessor in the embassy, fair-minded and knows how to work the system to get what the Alliance really needs. She's had it quiet for the past five years, but I'm hoping she'll come out of retirement for the position. Heaven knows we all need someone like her at a time like this. Unlike me, she has no direct ties to you. Hopefully, that'll be enough for the others to listen to her."

"And what about you?"

"It's back to the navy for me. I may not have as much pull here as I did a few months ago, but there are still some things I can do to help prepare from there." He motioned to the extravagant garb covering himself. "And if it means I don't have to wear these suits all the time, I'm all for it."

"It'd be nice to see you back in your dress blues," Shepard agreed with a grin. "I never thought I'd miss having mine until I saw what they filled the Normandy's new closet with."

Anderson smiled back, some of his worry lines vanishing with the simple gesture. "Don't worry, son. I'll order you an extra set." He held out his hand in farewell.

Shepard clasped the offered hand, pulling him into a close embrace. The councilor tensed in his arms, military instinct kicking in at the unexpected act. "Watch yourself, Anderson," John hurriedly whispered. "The Shadow Broker's been targeting the old crew."

The older soldier relaxed, patting him on the back in return. "It would explain where Sparatus is getting some of his ammo," he murmured in return.

"Keep an eye on Ash, will you?"

"I'll get someone I trust on it right away." Anderson took a step back, breaking the hug. "Say hi to Garrus and Tali for me."

Shepard nodded, moving to the embassy's exit. As he picked up the box of newly-purchased armor components he'd left by the door, a smile crossed his face at the thought of the two being safe and sound on the Normandy. He took a calming breath as he reached the threshold, likely the first and last on what had become one of the most stressful workdays of his life. "Will do."

* * *

"That should be it, Tali. You're free to go."

The quarian sprang up from the bed in the med-bay just as a wall clock chimed 0100. "Thank you, Doctor. I'll go back to my station now."

"Nonsense, Tali!" Chakwas cried in surprise, causing the med-bay's other occupant to grumble and turn in his sleep. "Just because I'm not holding you for observation doesn't mean you should go straight back to work."

Tali stole a glance at Garrus, once more recognizable in a spare set of armor he'd requested as soon as he'd come aboard. "But I'm not injured like him. I shouldn't be taking time off."

"Tali. Get cleaned up. Get some rest."

She jumped in surprise. "With _water_? Think of how much it takes to replenish-"

"Our current water stores are sufficient for the next fifty-seven days use," EDI interrupted. "If the filtration and purification systems are cleaned as scheduled at the end of the month, it will extend to seventy-three days. Miss Lawson's maintenance schedule includes four scheduled resupply events over the same time period."

"Thank you, EDI," Chakwas said with a look at the ceiling. She smiled at the quarian and placed a hand on her shoulder. "We can spare the resources, Tali. Go on."

The engineer didn't move, twiddling her fingers in indecision. "But Doctor, I haven't been on-station in over-"

The human laughed, her mirth stilling her tongue. "If you won't listen to me, at least clean up your food and water intakes. I can still lecture you on what vorcha blood would do to a quarian immune system if you'd prefer not to. You won't get scale itch, but it would have some-"

"Alright, I'll do it," she murmured in defeat. She slowly began to shuffle toward the door.

"He'd probably prefer not to see you covered in blood," the doctor added just before she could activate the holographic interface. Tali froze, her arm still extended. "Just a thought."

She flew through the door as soon as it opened at her touch.

_Keelah, he was terrified! I should probably at least get some of it off. Not enough to be wasteful, but-_

Her train of thought was suddenly cut short, a product of a speeding quarian, a three-way intersection, and a glassy-eyed drell.

Their smashing reunion ended with an introduction to the floor for Tali. Luckily, her mask held, a dull thunk echoing down the hall instead of the crash and tinkling of shattered glass. She groaned and got up, making use of the drell's extended hand as she climbed to her feet.

"My apologies. My mind was elsewhere," Thane said as he helped her up.

"No, it's my fault." Tali shook her head before checking for suit ruptures. She nearly jumped at the sight of her torso, before recalling the encounter with the vorcha once more. _Keelah, I should definitely clean some of this off._ "I shouldn't have been running."

"And I should have been more aware of the present," the drell croaked.

"Right..." She heard a grumble from his stomach, and suddenly became aware of the fact his quarters were on the opposite side of the ship. "Did you just get back?"

"Yes, I had a long talk with Kolyat after what happened."

Tali nodded, recalling the name from their first meeting before Aite. "How did it go?"

"_I walk in. He sits at a table. Arms cuffed, but chains dangling loose. An extra chair waits. A slight frown, barely masked as I sit across from him. 'I've been thinking about what happened, Dad.'_" The drell smiled at her. "Better than I'd dared to hope. He said he understood why I left, and forgave me."

"Oh, that's great," she said, a smile in her voice.

"Perhaps you should seek your own forgiveness."

The drell's words wiped the grin off her lips. "I shouldn't... I mean I don't deserve to ask. Especially after what happened-"

"Today?" She looked at the drell, whose expression had changed to something the quarian didn't recognize. "You saved his life from that salarian. A close-range shot like that would have killed him."

"I guess... But it still isn't-"

"Tali'Zorah," he interrupted. "If you are truly his siha, he will accept you all the same. You, if anyone, would deserve it."

She shook her head. "Not that I don't want to believe you, but I still don't understand what makes you so sure."

Thane blinked. "Siha is a title given to the warrior-angels of Arashu, the drell goddess of motherhood and protection. Caring souls, dutiful to their charges, fierce in wrath, and tenacious protectors. I had that once before, with my wife. It is rare to see it in others, but there is no doubt in my mind that I see that in you for him."

The quarian stood there, momentarily speechless in the quiet crossroads of hallways. _Could he really... But I don't- No, I do... But-_ She shook her head, sure that there was something she'd forgotten. "I'm not the only one who helps him."

"_The embrace pulls them into my sight. I continue, helping the turian's labored steps. A salarian, the shine of a gun. Shepard speaks. I move to grab my pistol. A shot. Shepard on the floor, his gun in her hands. Three shots. My gun comes loose, and I take aim. She fires again, ten shots. Green blood. The assailant falls before I can pull the trigger, one hand on his wounds and the other at another weapon on his waist. She steps on his arm, empties the clip. She holds out a hand. 'Sorry about that, John._" He gave a slight nod, then continued on his way to the mess hall. "You reacted faster than a professional assassin to defend him. None of the others could say the same."

Tali stood there for several more seconds, her mind in turmoil. _But I shouldn't ask him... should I?_

She shook herself, continuing on her trip into the women's restroom. The shower stalls stood directly across from her, their tiled walls gleaming invitingly as the lights activated from her presence.

_Do I really deserve it?_

The quarian snapped her eyes to the side. She moved to the sink, wishing that her mind would quiet down as she unfastened her realk. A single towel hung ready for drying hands.

_That's sufficient._

* * *

Miranda awoke with a start, her omni-tool buzzing from her wrist. She groaned as she recognized the tone, slowly peeling her face off of the desk in her room. A report on the proposed upgrades to the exploratory capabilities still sat open on the holographic interface in front of her, the computer screen displaying a diagram of the modifications to the mining probe storage bay. A full mug of coffee sat next to her head. Some of her hair had actually fallen into the cup, the strands dripping the cold drink on her cheek. She groaned in distaste.

_Definitely should have drank it sooner._

Her wrist buzzed again, drawing her attention back to the thing that had interrupted her slumber.

_Who sends a message at 0320?_

Miranda stifled a yawn as she tapped her omni-tool, bringing up the new message as she blearily rubbed her eyes.

_Date is set. Transfer will happen in four days at 1645 local. Next update in forty-eight hours._

Those seventeen words did more to wake her up than any amount of cold espresso could.

* * *

**[Seven hours earlier]**

_My head..._

Tali's head throbbed as she tried to lift her arm. Something loosely restrained her wrist, preventing her from pressing a hand to her visor.

_Keelah... what happened?_

Her groggy mind swam, the details of her last moments of consciousness dangling teasingly just out of reach. Annoyed by the fleeting images, she began to open her eyes. A familiar violet tint hung over the world, though she struggled to focus on anything outside her glass visor.

_So... I'm not in Chakwas's office?_

She turned her head to the side, struggling to focus on the image of her arm as she tugged once more at her restraints. _Looks like some sort of... animal skin?_ The bindings held, refusing to release her, and she began to look around the room. _Where am I?_

Even with her blurred vision, the quarian could tell she was bound to a flat surface. She became aware of a fuzzy sound, her hearing slowly starting to work once more.

"-angel... wants. He'll... -ing to him. Don't you w-... Ha! These... -n't work together to change a... ...each other. If they become a problem, I'll crush them myself. But the way things are going, they'll implode without my help. Don't worry though, you'll get the quarian soon."

As the quarian's vision cleared, she noticed a dark figure looming across the room from her. Though she couldn't make out any details yet, the shape seemed tantalizingly familiar. _A krogan... Could it be?_

"Grunt?"

The krogan chuckled as he turned to face her, then bent in closer. "Funny. Your dossier said you'd be reaching for the Spectre instead of the tankborn."

She recoiled slightly, the reptile's jet-black armor and wicked grin jogging her memory. "You... You're the one that killed Harkin."

"So your mind is intact. Good, the Broker wanted you in one piece."

"I'll be sure to thank him for his hospitality when I see him," she murmured. Tali jerked on her bindings once more, to no avail. _What would John do?_

_He'd come for me._

Her eyes widened with realization, something her captor was quick to notice. "That's right, quarian. You'll be a nice little piece of what he has planned for Shepard."

She shook her head, trying to stall for time. "I don't think so. He'll come for me -for both of us- before I'm even halfway there. And even if he didn't, you couldn't keep me in here forever."

"We're counting on it."

Tali struggled furiously with her restraints, the thought of being used as bait to hurt John scaring her more than the fact that her life stood in the balance.

"Ha!" he laughed. "Don't take the leather as a sign of weakness, female. Just because metal would have shredded your gloves doesn't mean I would hesitate to break you."

"And I'd do the same to you," she retorted, remembering the alley near Chora's Den as her wriggling died down. "The last thugs the Broker sent after me doubted me, and look what-"

A sharp ring of metal on metal sounded as a knife stabbed through the table next to Tali's hand. She recoiled, moving away from the blade that the krogan had slammed down on instinct. He smiled at her, forcing the blade through until only the hilt stuck out. Blue characters on its white surface gleamed as his hand released the weapon.

"Happened?" He backed away as she lay there, speechless. "I haven't seen one of these in centuries. Wonderful killing tools, your people used to make. Unfortunate that they shamed them with their sorry excuses for war stories. But know this." He crept in closer, his breath nearly fogging the surface of her visor as he whispered to her. "This is not your story. Your ancestors were weak, and you will be cast aside and forgotten like they were before you. That is how your tale will end."

"I don't think so," she growled back.

"Think what you want, it won't make any-"

_"Karn, we're all waiting for you. The fools are getting antsy, and I want my trophy."_

He grunted with distaste as his omni-tool flashed, then began to stomp away. "I'll deal with you later, quarian." Tali could hear raised voices as the door opened to admit the warrior, snarls that indicated the presence of vorcha and the multi-toned yells of turians carrying to the room she was held in.

_What did he mean by that?_

She cast aside the thought as the door slid shut behind him, returning to her futile struggle for freedom. _I need to get out before they can use me against John._ Her gaze settled on the weapon embedded in the table next to her hand.

_It should be able to cut this "leather" he mentioned._

The quarian gripped the handle of her knife, trying to tug it free.

It didn't budge.

**"Alert to all Eclipse: the Blue Suns have broken the truce. Suppress with extreme prejudice."**

Immediately, she could hear the sounds of gunfire from beyond the door. Tali continued to pull at the blade, losing track of time as she pushed, yanked, and wiggled the weapon in an attempt to loosen it from its impromptu sheath.

_Come on..._ She willed her arm to go the extra few millimeters, stretching as far as she could to get leverage on the stuck weapon as she reaffirmed her grip around the hilt. Pulling with all her might, she thought of the times Shepard had come to her rescue since his return from the dead. Inhaling the toxic chemicals while fighting on Illium, her stabbing him on Haestrom, his potentially suicidal charge against a YMIR on Freedom's Progress...

_I'm not letting him get hurt because of me again._

The blade moved.

She tugged again, drawing the knife out bit by bit over several more minutes. With a yell, she wrenched it free. The quarian turned the weapon on her restraints, holding it at an awkward angle as she sawed away at the leather binding her right wrist.

_Don't worry, John. They're not getting me that easy._

The door flew open. A single vorcha entered, hissing at something behind it as the sound of gunfire raged from the room beyond. He turned to face her as an explosion rang down the hall.

The vorcha hissed at the sight of her weapon. "Drop it." She ignored it, continuing to saw furiously at the leather as the merc closed in on her.

The first restraint broke.

* * *

**[Ten hours later]**

_Could Thane be right?_

Tali shook away the thought, planting her dagger back into the newly-cleaned sheath at her ankle. She turned away and continued to scrub at her suit, the cloth she had been using now stained with red. She moved back to the sink, rinsing the towel in cold water. Though the water became tinted with the blood, the rag stayed the same crimson hue. The quarian frowned as she turned off the faucet, going back to rubbing the stains off of her sh'rayan. _Such a waste of a good cloth. It didn't deserve- Damn it!_

The woman sighed in exasperation, pressing her free hand to her helmeted head. _I thought I wasn't going back there again._ She frowned, the argument that had been plaguing her ever since she'd spoken with Thane starting up again.

_I stabbed him!_

_You saved his life._

_I nearly stabbed him again._

_But you didn't._

_By quarian law, I should be dead._

_By your captain's actions, you're in the clear._

_I shouldn't be with him._

_He wants to be with you._

_I don't even know if that's true._

_Bullshit._

She flung the rag at the sink in frustration just as the door opened. "Morning, Tali. Didn't expect to see you here."

The quarian looked up, seeing a human dressed in an overlarge t-shirt with a towel and toothbrush in hand. "Hi Kasumi." The thief walked over to the other sink, running the water over her toothbrush.

"Did you sleep well?"

"Eh," she murmured noncommittally. The human raised an inquiring eyebrow, which didn't go unnoticed. "I ruined his towel," the quarian grudgingly answered, gesturing to the sink with the stained cloth.

"We both know that's not the real story," Kasumi said, tucking the toothbrush in behind one of her teeth as she sat down next to the quarian. She ran the brush through her mouth, the bristles rustling against her teeth. "Tell mewhaph fleely bodurngyew."

Tali's translator wasn't tuned to detangle such mutilated speech. "What?"

The girl held up a finger and spat in the sink. "Tell me what's really bothering you," she repeated before continuing to brush her teeth.

"Ah... Well it's just... I mean..."

The human interrupted, speaking around her toothbrush. "Tari, hands."

She slammed her hands on the floor in frustration, willing them to stop fidgeting. "I bumped into Thane when he came back this morning."

The human took her toothbrush out of her mouth, spinning it as if it was an extension of her finger. _And?_

"He said he says I should just talk to John about things, that he might... forgive me."

The human stood up once more, spitting in the sink. "I thought we agreed he already had."

"Well, he never actually-"

"Would you still be here if he didn't?"

She didn't answer.

"Shep's already cleared you. You need to forgive yourself, Tali," the human said before swishing some water around in her mouth. She spat in the sink a final time before speaking again. "Do you want to be with him?"

Tali suppressed a shiver that ran down her spine at the thought. She nodded for the human's benefit.

"Do you care for him?"

_More than anyone, even my family._ Another nod.

"Do you wish you'd stop having all these doubts?"

_Keelah, I do..._ Nod.

"Then you should take Thane's advice. Go talk to him."

"But-"

"Remember, he _can_ say yes."

"But-"

"No more buts, Tali. Finish cleaning up and talk to him."

"But-"

"Sorry, can't hear you over the shower!" the thief called, turning on the water in one of the stalls.

"But-"

"You've reached the inbox of Kasumi Goto. Please leave a message..."

"Ugh..." The quarian stood, picking up the rag as she moved back to the sink. She renewed her scrubbing, nearly tearing the opening of a pocket that was normally hidden under her realk's fasteners in her haste.

_Why do I even bother?_ she thought as she flung the towel back down. The engineer dug furiously into the pocket with a finger. _It's not like I even use-_

Tali stopped, hearing a distinctive crinkle as her finger rummaged through the pocket. She reached in more carefully, pulling out a fragile object. _Wait, is that..._

It was the remains of a flower, faded blue. The petals were pressed flat from the pocket, swaying from the slight wind of Kasumi's shower. What little air turbulence there was buffeted it, threatening to shred it as she held it in her hands.

_She stands on the Citadel, at the base of a statue. A bouquet of blue blossoms sits at her feet as she looks into the cold stone eyes. "Goodbye John," she whispers to his stone likeness, before picking up one of the flowers._

"And he still came for me on Haestrom..."

She cradled the blossom, protecting it from further damage as she quietly picked up her realk.

_I need to take a walk._

* * *

"So Vosque didn't know a thing?"

"Nope."

"Damn shame."

"Yeah. I can guarantee Vido wasn't trying to protect me like your Sidonis. A gunshot to the head's kinda hard to misinterpret."

"You don't say."

"So Shepard's cleared you for ops again?"

"Yeah. Didn't have any issues after we got out with Sid, and the bone weave didn't take long to set. I should be good to go in a couple of days."

"Goddamn miracle, modern medicine."

"You said it, Zaeed."

"So," Zaeed said, nudging the paint can at his feet with a boot, "this the part where we paint the logo back on the dropship?"

Garrus scoffed. "Funny, I was under the impression we were here to take the logo off the hammerhead."

The two shared a laugh as they sat down on a pair of overturned buckets. Garrus reached over his shoulder, pulling out a folding table that had been wedged between a pair of crates. Zaeed, meanwhile, popped the top off the paint can, dumping its contents on the table. A cascade of multicolored plastic coins poured out, as well as a bound deck of cards.

"Hey! Yer not startin' without me are ya?"

Garrus didn't spare a glance over his shoulder, devoting his attention to shuffling the deck. "Not at all, Ken. Just trying to see how lucky Zaeed feels today."

"Lucky enough to let engie here pick the rules," the bounty hunter muttered, lighting a cigar. "So what'll it be today? Hold'em or skyllian five?"

"Hold'em today, Zaeed," the engineer said as he pulled up another impromptu seat. "I've got a good feeling about it."

"S'what you said the last four times we had a poker night. Didn't help you any of those times either."

"Right. And let's not forget we're playing aces high, not kings high," the turian quipped, holding the cards out for Ken to cut the deck.

"That's always how it's been played on Omega!"

"Nah, pretty sure it's been queens high ever since Aria took over." He laughed as he set down the deck. "Oh, and no suit heirarchy either." The former merc rolled his eyes as Garrus dealt the cards, two to each of them. "Buy-in's five hundred, small blind bet's two creds, big blind's five, minimum five to raise."

Ken pulled out an empty credit chit, transferring the credits from his account with a wave of his omni-tool to the card in his hand before passing it to Zaeed. "Is Jacob joinin' us today?"

"Nope," the merc said as he added his own funds to the chit. "Got too many goddamn guns to clean after that raid. He won't be free for at least another three hours."

"What he said," Garrus murmured, copying the ritual before putting the chit in the middle of the table. The three of them quickly sorted through the chips, organizing them into several piles and leaving over half of the original pile off to one side.

Ken tossed a pair of white chips to the middle of the table, folding his arms and leaning forward instead of looking at his cards. "So what's this I hear about Tali and the commander at the end of that last mission?"

Zaeed looked at his cards and followed with a single blue chip. Garrus decided not to look at his cards yet, seeing as the pot was so low. "She was... Let's just say she was happy to see him."

"Confirmation?" Ken asked, adding three more white chips to the pot.

Garrus shook his head. "No... A hug's all Thane and I saw." Zaeed rapped a knuckle on the table, choosing not to raise. Garrus checked as well, as did Ken. "Nothing conclusive enough for Zaeed at any rate."

"No kiss, no chits. You gonna burn 'em anytime soon, Archangel?"

The turian rolled his eyes, tossing the top card from the deck to the side before turning three cards face-up on the table. _Six of hearts, queen of spades, three of diamonds._ Ken checked his cards warily, then chucked in a trio of blue chips.

"Lucky with a flop like that? I call bull." Zaeed smirked, matching Ken's bet. Garrus, meanwhile, looked at his own cards.

_Queen of hearts, three of clubs. Guess he'll be eating those words soon._ Garrus tried to remain stonefaced, however, calling the bet instead of raising. "The only bull around here's that you didn't pay out for the last time they had a moment, Zaeed."

Ken sat there flabbergasted for a moment, then rapped his knuckle against the table. The former merc grinned and did the same. "No vid. Besides, 'snot like they were all touchy-feely when she was running to the elevator."

"Whatever." The turian checked, then burned another card. He flipped the following one face-up, an ace of clubs.

Ken raised the pot again, adding four more blue chips. Zaeed laughed, throwing in a red one and a pair of blues. "Suits you for trying to muck with the odds on Tuchanka. And I still say the engie here's bluffing."

_He probably has an ace of his own. Still, I already have two pair. Might as well milk him for all he's worth._ Garrus tossed in a pair of reds, fifty credits altogether. "I agree, and so are you."

To his surprise, Ken matched his bet, throwing in a red coin and a blue of his own. "So wha'do ya say the odds are now, Zaeed?"

The merc frowned, then matched Garrus's bet with a trio of blue coins. "Still five-to-two on them getting together while I'm here, eight-to-one on it being before the suicide mission."

Ken gave shake of his head in response. "I still don't think ya should talk abou' it like that Zaeed. Bad luck and all."

"Hey, we all know we'll lose people," the other human murmured as Garrus burned a final card. "Always happens. Might as well get used to it."

"I dunno about ya, but I'd rather think Shepard can pull another miracle out o' his hat."

"He does seem to be good at that sort of thing," Garrus conceded as he slowly drew the top card. "That and he'd be devastated if she was left behind."

"Def'nitely."

"Quit stalling and play the goddamn river already!"

"Relax, Zaeed. It's not like you're winning this hand." Garrus placed the last card on the table face up, a three of hearts.

_Full house!_

Ken played another pair of red chips, plus three more blues. Zaeed smirked. "Really, Scotty? You should've learned by now not to mess with the big boys." He tossed in a trio of reds as the engineer frowned back. "Garrus, show him how a real man makes a bet."

_With the table like this, there's no way he's got four of a kind or a straight flush. Full house wins no matter what._

Garrus resisted the urge to grin (not that he believed either of the others would recognize the turian expression, anyway) as he placed seven red coins on the table. Zaeed immediately stopped smiling.

The bet was now 370 credits out of each person's original 500, all on one hand.

"You were saying, Zaeed?"

Ken remained silent, raising the total by another red and a blue. Four hundred.

"You're both goddamn liars," the former merc grumbled. He pushed his entire pile forward. "And I'm gonna make you pay for it!"

The turian flared his mandibles for a moment before he could catch himself, and the merc grinned back. "What's the matter? Afraid of getting found out?"

"Not at all, Zaeed." He went all-in as well. "Just surprised you're this eager to end up buying in again this early."

"Ya too, Garrus." Ken copied their action with a grin. "Zaeed, whaddaya got?"

He flipped over his cards: a six of clubs and a three of spades. "Full house," the former merc declared proudly. "Threes full of sixes. Good luck topping that one, Archangel."

The turian nodded. "Not bad, but thanks for the luck. Probably should've saved some for yourself." He flipped his cards over, and the human's expression melted in horror. "Threes full of queens."

"Got any more room, Skully?"

Garrus turned around. "Good timing, Jack. These two are going to need to buy in again anyway after that monster of an opening hand." He reached for the massive pile of chips in the center of the table, only to get rapped on his hand by Ken. "Quit joking around, Ken. We know you don't have anything highe-"

The engineer slapped his cards on the table: two queens.

"Queens full o' threes. I think tha' qualifies as 'higher', doncha agree Jack?"

_He didn't giggle?_

The convict nearly fell off her bucket laughing at the frozen turian as Ken swept the chips away.

_His tell is legendary! How the hell did this just happen?_

Jack added to the chit in the middle of the table, barely reining in her laughter enough to speak as she gathered chips from the extras on the side. "Damn, Skully. That look was fucking priceless."

Garrus joined Zaeed in grumbling as they added to the community chit on the table. Meanwhile, Jack began to roll her eyes as Ken made an extravagant show of shuffling the cards in the air.

"Fucking deal them right or don't deal them at all."

Ken gulped and began to sweat under the biotic's gaze. "Yes, ma'am." He restarted his shuffling, minus the airborne tricks.

Jack's gaze then turned away, focusing on the armored human. "Hey, Zaeed, what're the latest odds on my favorite bet?"

"Still eight-to-three on him making the first move, fourteen-to-one on her, five-to-three on neither saying anything."

"Put another five on him for me," she muttered, passing him a blue chip.

"Are ya kiddin'?" Ken slammed the deck down, but didn't deal the hand. "They shoulda made their move by now. I say swap mine to it being on neither."

"Boy, you swap positions more than an asari hooker," the former merc grunted. "You'll have to stick with one bet sooner or later.

"Stick with one one what?"

All four of them gasped, their heads whipping around to face the elevator. Tali was walking toward the table, tucking something under her hood as she strode toward them. Garrus noticed that there were still several isolated spots of red gleaming off of her suit's armored plating.

_Oh crap._

None of them spoke as the quarian came to a halt, tapping her foot as she loomed over the table.

"Garrus, what were you talking about?"

The others glared at Garrus, the combined gaze making him feel as if he had sweat glands. "What do you mean? We were just playing Texas hold'em and Jack wanted-"

"It sounded like you were betting on couples."

"No... No. Why would we do that?"

The quarian's glowing eyes narrowed to dangerous slits of silver. "Chiktikka or shotgun?"

_Double-crap._

"If you must know, it was about Jacob and Kasumi," he lied, looking around the table for support. "Isn't that right, Ken?"

The angry quarian and the unnamed humans shifted their gazes to the other engineer, prompting his forehead to glisten. "Y-yeah. I was saying I still don' think they'll ever get together at the rate they've been goin', what with Kasumi being all stalker-y an' Jacob bein' all clueless and such."

"See, Tali," Garrus continued. "It's all just a big-"

_"Hey, Zaeed?"_

The five of them turned their view skyward at the sound of Joker's voice over the ship intercom. "Yea, Joker? What do you want?"

_"I wanted to change my bet, regarding the relationship pool."_

Garrus gulped nervously as a three-fingered grip clamped on his shoulder. To his left, he could see Ken in a similar situation, his shirt becoming visibly wet with perspiration as Tali's other hand rested on his arm.

"How so?" the armored human asked as the turian held his breath.

_"Just talked to Thane when he came in, and there's just no chance Jacob and Kasumi are hooking up."_

He exhaled. _Thank the spirits._ Tali's grip on his shoulder began to loosen.

_"I want to swap my current bet to her getting with Garrus."_

All eyes turned back to the turian, whose mandibles hung loosely from his face.

"What, now?"

Immediately, all three humans at the table broke out into fits of uncontrollable laughter. Even Tali joined in, her electronically-toned chuckles adding to the turian's flustered mood.

"Come on, that's just... I mean... Just because her waist is... I'm not interested!"

"Hey, Skully, how much you wanna bet she's right next to you right now?"

Garrus toppled out of his seat in surprise, waving an arm through the air around him as the laughter intensified around him. He growled as he realized the space was free of any cloaked Asian thieves.

"Fuck you, Jack!"

"No thanks, Skully, I'll pass."

_"Yeah, even I wouldn't go near that bet."_ Garrus grumbled as he climbed back onto his bucket, the others' laughter slowly dying down. _"Okay, seriously though. What're the latest odds on Tali-Shepard?"_

**"WHAT?!"**

_"Oh, shi- Sorry, must be a wrong number. I support his nomination for candidacy. No, I don't want to buy anything. The person you've dialed doesn't live here anymore."_

"Joker..." the quarian growled.

_"Oh, um yeah. I've got to- um... EDI must have had a glitch during the message. I definitely wouldn't place a bet on or against a respected crewmate like Tali, as I respect her privacy too much to do something so crass as to bet on her relationship status."_

_"Lieutenant Moreau is incorrect. There was no glitch, and I count thirty-seven separate instances of-"_

_"Kshhhh! You're breaking- Kshhhhhh. Can't hear- Kshhhhh. -li must be- Kshhhh. -glitch again. Kshhhhh. Got to go!"_ The intercom cut off, leaving Garrus sitting next to one particularly angry-looking quarian.

"For the record," the turian mumbled, "I'd like to modify my previous statement to include Joker."

The hand clamped back down on his shoulder. Garrus looked up, trying to keep his mandibles from quivering.

"Um, Tali..."

"It was nice knowin' ya, Garrus."

Before any of them could blink, the woman turned away from him and rounded on her fellow engineer. Her hand slapped Ken's face with thunderous force, knocking him clean off his bucket as the sound of the blow echoed through the hangar.

"Mind your own damn business, Ken. And you!" She raised her arm at the turian, her wrist glowing orange as she activated her omni-tool.

_Spirits, help me._ "I know you're angry, but I never bet against you."

He squinted his eyes shut as her omni-tool sparked. It was a longshot, but anything that kept him from being attacked by a combat drone for another few seconds seemed worthwhile.

"Is it true?"

He turned towards Zaeed, cautiously opening one eye. The merc, on the other hand, looked like he was having the time of his life.

_I am so screwed._

"Yeah, he's been the only one who's had his creds on you making the first move the whole time. Apart from when he screwed with things on Tuchanka, of course, but he wouldn't have gotten paid if it worked. Tried to bet exactly how Shepard would ask you out right after his little private talk with the guy. Damn vorcha wouldn't even go near a deal that fishy."

The quarian turned back toward him, her eyes livid as he awaited the verdict. She tilted her head slightly, clearly thinking over what to do with him as the others quietly lifted the table and walked it almost a meter away from where he and Ken were.

_Stay of execution?_

She socked him in the stomach, _hard_. He doubled over, his hands cupping over where her fist made contact. Something dropped into his hands, prompting him to cough in surprise.

"Khu-what's thi-"

The quarian slapped him before he could continue, nearly making him bite his mandible. To the turian, however, the blow didn't sound nearly as loud as the one that had unseated Ken.

_Could be because my ears are still ringing._

Tali stomped back to the elevator as Ken rose back to his feet. The human hissed after trying to rub his face, his cheek emblazoned with a distinctive red handprint. "Remin' me not ta mess with her," he muttered as the elevator doors closed behind the quarian.

Garrus ignored him, getting a closer look at the object as he caught his breath on one knee. _A credit chit? But why would she-_

His omni-tool flashed with an incoming message. He opened it, still bowed over as the two unharmed humans broke out into fits of laughter.

_I'll want it back when this is over, bosh'tet.  
-Tali_

The turian blinked in surprise. _"Want it back"? How much is on here?_ He ran it under his omni-tool, checking the balance. When the number popped up, he nearly fell over as he was assaulted with another round of coughs.

_Chit balance: 14,328 credits_

Garrus hobbled after Ken, picking up his own bucket and moving back to the table. The engineer's cheek was quickly beginning to swell, as if a quarian hand was spontaneously growing out of his face while he shuffled the deck. The human avoided his eye, and Garrus turned toward Zaeed.

"Hey, Zaeed. It's not too late to change my bet is it?"

The bounty hunter stared at him, his glass eye giving a special kind of crazy look. "He hasn't even dealt the cards yet."

"I meant the other one I had, the one on Tali making the first move."

Zaeed raised an eyebrow. "Really, Archangel? I didn't think you'd get that scared of her that easy."

"No." He scooted his seat forward as Ken finally passed everyone their cards. "I'd like to raise it."

* * *

"You sure look rested this morning, Shepard."

John found himself smiling as he nodded to his yeoman in greeting. "After a day like yesterday, it's just nice to see everything back to normal, so to speak."

She smiled as he ascended the stairs to the galaxy map in the middle of the CIC. "That's a remarkably positive outlook to take after what happened with Garrus and Tali."

_And the Council,_ he mentally noted. "Let's just say I'm glad everyone got out of there alright."

"Of course, Commander," she replied, a knowing look on her face worthy of the good doctor downstairs.

_Shrinks..._ He cleared his throat as he studied the map in front of him. _Where to start... Liara's been tracking the Broker, but she hasn't made much headway lately from the sound of things. Wrex won't know what's happening outside of Tuchanka. That leaves..._ "Joker, let's head to Omega. I figure Aria's as good a place to start looking for leads on the Broker as any."

_"Copy that, Commander. Should be there by dinner."_

He descended the steps, prepared to make his rounds. Kelly, however, cleared her throat as he walked by, intending to head to Mordin's lab.

"Something important, Kelly?" he asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Tali wants to see you in engineering. She specifically said it wasn't all that important, which, knowing her, means-"

"-that it probably is," he finished. "Thanks, Kelly. Anything else?"

"Just some junk mail. A formal letter from the Council condemning your recent actions and a spam letter about male enhancement drugs."

He chuckled as he made an about-face and headed into the elevator. _Shrinks..._ he thought again as the door closed with a whisper.

The elevator trip lasted an instantaneous eternity, long enough for him to contemplate everything that she could possibly want to talk to him about, but not long enough to come up with any solutions or strategies to any of the potential problems it could pose. All too soon, the doors opened once more, with him wondering about everything from what she thought of the Cerberus logo on the breast of his officer's jacket to whether the quarians had declared war on the geth and requested his favorite engineer's immediate presence.

_You know what? I can solve one of those right now._

He stripped off the jacket, thankful for his forethought in grabbing a few plain white t-shirts before leaving the Citadel. Feeling somewhat more relaxed, he slung the coat over his shoulder as he walked into the engine room.

_There she is._

He stepped forward, stopping just behind the quarian. He could hear what sounded like a muffled humming coming from her helmet as he closed in. "You wanted to talk to me about something, Tali?"

She pivoted on her foot, spinning to meet him. He smiled as he noticed that her suit was no longer coated in vorcha blood. The humming suddenly became more frantic, her fingers twiddling as the muffled noises continued. He noted that the light on her mouthpiece stayed dim as she continued.

He grabbed one of her hands, and the humming stopped as she held him back. "I didn't quite catch that, Tali. Could you please unmute yourself?"

The girl's eyes opened wider before she facepalmed with her free hand. The hand then went to the side of her helmet as the light winked on. "Keelah, I feel like such an idiot. I'm so sorry I forgot about the mute. I know it's bad for emergency situations but I had a lot on my mind and I didn't want to be a distraction. I mean, I couldn't focus with these thoughts in my head and I doubt Ken and Gabby could either but I'm so conflicted and I just needed to sort things out but they wouldn't- er, didn't when I tried talking it out and thinking about it made it worse and I just-"

She cut herself off, allowing John to catch the tail end of a hushed snicker. Tali's head whipped around, her eyes glowing with venom and malicious intent. The N7 graduate followed her gaze, barely catching sight of a large red mark across Ken's face before he became intensely interested in his station's interface.

_What was that about?_

The quarian sighed, shaking her head. "Um... Look, I'm sorry I dragged you into this. It was... a bad idea. I should probably-"

"Would you prefer if we talked about it by the drive core?" he asked, gesturing down the narrow pathway between the workstations.

"Yes," she replied, "I'd like that."

Before he knew it, the human was stumbling down the hallway. He lost hold of his jacket as he was half-led and half-dragged along by the quarian who still hadn't released his hand. They came to a stop in a large spherical room, the squat and segmented pillar that held the tantalus drive core aloft in the center humming with energy as it radiated the mass effect fields that kept them traveling faster than light. The walls were lined with silvery panels, glistening with a blue sheen from the core's hazy output and covered with large circular nodules whose purpose the human could only guess at. Only a small set of guardrails separated them from the marvelous feat of engineering, which was capable of powering a ship nearly three times the Normandy's size while taking up half as much room as others of its class. Only a couple meters of handrails separated them from the ship's powerhouse as the human looked on.

"Amazing, isn't it?"

"Yeah," the human mumbled, though not for the same reasons as the quarian. "All it's missing is Joker in a wheelchair with a metal helmet and we'd have our own Cerebro."

Tali tilted her head. "Our own what, now?"

He chuckled. "Don't mind me. Empty-headed human soldier, remember?"

She snorted with laughter. "Apparently." The quarian turned back to the sight before them. "Something about the hum of the drive core just... makes me feel at home, I guess you'd say. I come up here from time to time to relax."

"Funny, it's my first time actually walking in here." Silver orbs settled on him, and he could sense the quarian's raised eyebrow. "Gabby and Ken were always at their stations when I came to engineering, so I never had to go this way."

"Figures," she laughed. "Ken mentioned how Joker said Cerberus used substandard parts on the core shielding; claimed there's a two percent chance that it will collapse at any moment and flood this walkway with gamma radiation. They've been scared to stay out here for long ever since." She glanced his way as his mouth dropped open in horror. "Don't worry, highest it's ever really gotten is less than a hundredth of a percent. EDI and I just prefer not to correct them."

"Never thought I'd hear you openly admit you agree with an AI."

"Did I?" She shrugged. "If anyone asks, just say the first Normandy showed me the value of a little solitude every now and then."

He grinned and shook his head. _She's actually been warming up to her- it, whatever EDI is._ "So before Cerberus gets any more incriminating recordings of you accidentally agreeing with an AI-"

"Trust me, I took all of their devices out of this space as soon as I could."

John raised an eyebrow, but continued. "Would you like to tell me what you wanted to talk about?"

She stared straight ahead at the drive core. "First I need you to answer something for me."

"I'm pretty sure I asked you first."

"It's something I need to know."

John frowned, his head turning with concern at the quarian's sad, no- defeated, tone. "Alright. What is it, Tali?"

The engineer sighed, tensing up as she gathered herself. He gave her hand a soft squeeze, and he felt a barely-contained shiver from her in response.

"John, am I really to blame for what I did to you on Haestrom?"

"It doesn't matter to me that you-"

"I'm not asking if it mattered or not." She turned, looking him in the eye. "If you had to pass judgement for what I did, if you had to be impartial, what would you say?"

"Why are you asking me? From how close you two are, I'd guess you already asked Kasumi about it. I know for a fact she wouldn't blame you."

"Well... It's... because I need to know what my cap-" She cut herself off with a shake of her head. "What my commanding officer would say."

"Tali," he said, taking hold of her shoulder with his free hand. "As your commanding officer, I find insufficient evidence to convict you. I know you would never have intentionally hurt me, and you were in an extremely stressful situation. It was an honest mistake."

"And you're sure?"

"Certain. Besides, you don't need to ask for an appeal if you're not guilty."

"But what if you had to look at it from the other side?"

"Tali. As judge, I say you're free to go."

"But-"

"As a juror, I'd vote to acquit you."

"What about-"

"As a prosecutor, I'd have nothing concrete to charge you with. And as your defense attorney," he added with a grin as he placed a finger over her lit vocal emitter, "I have to ask you to stop heckling my client."

Her eyes seemed to soften, becoming smaller. For once, Shepard was at a loss, unable to tell if she was joyous or morose. "I... Thank you, John." She pushed his finger away from her mask with her free hand, her eyes brightening with a more easily-recognized grin. "And for the record, that doesn't stop me from speaking."

"Now where's that switch?" he mumbled, scratching his chin as he pretended to visually search the space between her helmet and hood for the mute she'd been using earlier.

"Bosh'tet... I guess I owe you an explanation now."

"If you want, though frankly I'd settle for listening to you talk about the drive core here for an hour or two."

She shook her head. "One, I'd have to get back to work before then. Two, I'm not letting you give me the smile-and-nod treatment."

"Why not? You still don't believe what I said about your voice?" What little of her face was silhouetted through the visor seemed to darken in the well-lit room, only her eyes staying just as bright as she turned her head slightly.

_Hmm, so she can blush?_

The clearly-flustered engineer didn't speak for several seconds, looking back at the drive core in all its majesty. When her vocal emitter finally lit up, it was with a voice that was soft enough to almost be drowned out by the hum of the machinery around them.

"I want this."

"A drive core? Pretty sure I could forward the specs to the Neema once I figure out the best way to give Mister Illusive the finger after we're done with the collectors." He paused for a moment, once again scratching his chin. "Actually, that sounds like a good enough plan in and of itself."

"Not what I meant, but thanks," she chuckled back before turning sheepishly toward him. "I want _this_," she repeated, squeezing his hand for emphasis.

John's eyes widened. _Wait, did I just imagine that?_ He opened his mouth to vocalize the question, but it was quickly covered by a gloved hand.

_Now that's just not fair._

"I know it's not fair. It isn't supposed to be..."

He blinked. _Since when can she read minds?_

"I mean I probably don't deserve it after what happened, and you -the savior of the galaxy- should be with someone you can have everything with and I could -would- get sick..."

_Oh..._

"...But I care for you, despite all the risks. I know it's selfish, but I want to be there with you, but not like the old Normandy. I waited too long to figure out how I felt back then and by the time I'd sorted myself out you found Liara, but then you just... died on us. No warning, no last goodbyes. You hadn't even made it to the lower decks on your rounds that day before it happened, and with what everybody keeps saying about this mission..."

She trailed off with a shake of her head. Her glove left his mouth, and he was suddenly aware of how empty his hand felt as the quarian placed both her hands on the guard rail. Tali leaned over the safety feature, her eyes on the floor.

"I know it's just a silly notion, I mean it sounds like it was pulled straight from some cliched vid. A young woman rescued by a dashing commander, being accepted on his crew of misfits as they go to save the galaxy, _twice_, having to watch from the side as he chooses someone else, seeing him die to save one of his crew, getting a second chance when he miraculously comes back from the dead." He caught a slight movement from her head, a stolen glance in his direction. "Sorry, it's just some selfish fantasy. I won't let it get in the way of the mission, I should just-"

Shepard grabbed her arm as she began to turn away, stopping her from fleeing back to engineering. She shrugged her shoulder, trying to shake him off.

"And if this isn't just a fantasy?"

"I... I shouldn't..."

John spun her to face him, and the quarian gained an unbreakable interest in her twiddling fingers. The quarian mumbled to her hands. "You nearly died because of my mistake, and I'm standing here babbling about something I don't deserve like an ungrateful bosh'tet."

_Okay, that's enough of that,_ he mused, slipping one of his hands between her warring digits. "I want this too, Tali."

The quarian stilled at the sight of his hand in hers. Slowly, carefully, she began to play with his own multitude of fingers, as if studying and memorizing every detail about them.

"Tali, you're not being selfish. You were there with me when we went to Ilos to face the unknown. You still trusted me to help you when we met up on Freedom's Progress after I landed in a Cerberus ship. You've stayed and helped me both on and off the battlefield ever since you joined the crew. If anyone really deserves to be with me, it's you."

Her hands stopped toying with his fingers, and her three slipped into his five. "John..."

"And even if you didn't, I'd still choose you anyway."

"Wow... I... You really... That's..."

The quarian looked up, her eyes shimmering. A vein silver rushed down from one eye, quick enough that John would've missed it had he blinked.

"Good..." They separated, and the quarian bounced on her heels for a moment. "I should get back to work," she replied, nervousness evident in her voice. "But... thanks. For dropping by... And talking..." Tali stood there for a few more seconds, her eyes burning into his in silence before she nodded and began to turn away. She had gone almost a meter away before she noticed he was still holding her hand.

"You forgot something." When the quarian turned back to him, John smiled. "There's something else you should be thanking me for."

"Keelah, John. If I was to stand here and thank you for every single thing you've done for me, we'd be here for hours. And I DO have to clean out one of the water filters today, even if you like to listen to..." She shook her head. "I still have work to do."

"The filters are Gardner's job and you know it. But I was referring to one specific thing."

She tilted her head quizzically. "What's that?"

"This." He stepped forward, pecking the top of her hood with a single kiss that pressed it flat against her glass helmet. He lingered there a moment, the hardy fabric under his chin. "You'll need to thank me for that at some point."

The quarian's vocal light flickered on and off several times as he backed away with a smile. He turned with a nod, prepared to walk back down the hallway to engineering proper.

He hadn't, however, counted on the handholding going both ways.

John came to a stop, realizing that Tali still clutched on to him with a firm grip. Her vocal emitter flashed a few more times as his eyes drifted to hers.

_I guess she didn't want to wait._

The next three words that hit his ears were laced with something he'd never heard from the quarian: a confident, almost possessive force with an undertone that suggested something... _more_.

"John, you missed."

* * *

Gabriella Daniels sighed in exasperation as Kenneth Donnelly leaned away from his station, stealing another glance down the hall.

"Ken, can you just leave those two alone?"

"Shush, they'll hear ya!"

She glanced over at him. "You know, you don't have to be so obsessed with this 'love pool' or whatever it is you're calling it now."

"Are ya kiddin'? It's over six figures now! Garrus made a huge bet that raised the limit this mornin'. I had te' get me a piece o' that pie."

"You know you're just going to end up out of a lot of creds."

Ken waved her off, leaving Gabby to shake her head at her own workstation. The hypocrisy wasn't lost on the woman, who'd used Kasumi to make a relationship bet of her own by proxy.

"Hey, Ken," she said with a sway of her hips. "I think there's something off with these calculations. Can you come here and help me check them?"

"Quiet, woman! I'm tryin' ta hear them."

Needless to say, she was facing some stiff odds of her own.

Ken gasped just in time to be yanked back by the agitated woman, shaking his head and mumbling as he began to turn pale.

"Oh no... No-no-no..."

Gabby raised an eyebrow as she tapped her foot. "What's wrong? She didn't try to swat at your face again, did she? Because if she missed, I can do it for her."

"No," Ken murmured. "I saw something worse."

"What?"

He beckoned her closer. The woman rolled her eyes, but obliged. The man then hissed in her ear as if the words were an unspeakable taboo.

"I saw _confirmation._"

* * *

"What was that, Tali?"

_Keelah, why did I just say that?_

The quarian shied away under John's gaze, but didn't dare to release his hand. "Well, it's... nothing, I guess..."

"Relax. I won't bite," he replied, drawing closer to her.

The mental image did everything but calm her down. "Um, y-you... I... um... Wow, is it hot in here?"

She shied away from him, staring pointedly at the floor. _Stupid! He probably thinks that I'm..._ The engineer felt her head move, a product of the hand pressing firmly against the side of her helmet. Her eyes traveled up the man's body as he pressed against the side of her realk.

_...that I'm..._

She grimaced momentarily as her eyes passed his chest, though the human's loose-fitting shirt didn't betray the damage she imagined lay under it. Even so, the human's hand urged her head further upward, and she found herself distracted from her dark thoughts by the man's smiling face.

"Tali, you don't have to be afraid to talk to me."

"What? No, it's not that I'm afraid of talking, it's just- It was a gesture, and it's sweet, and thank you, but for a moment I kind of thought... Anyway, it's nothing you need to worry about. Or at least I hope you would, but that's something for later. Maybe. Hopefully. But you don't-"

"Tali."

She found herself looking back into his eyes, her mind going blank as she became extremely aware of how close he was standing to her.

_Damn that wonderful smile of his._

"You... You missed," she repeated.

_SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!_

An embarrassingly large part of her ignored the warning.

"What do you mean?" the human asked, his breath momentarily fogging the top of her visor.

"I know you can't see through this visor, but quarians aren't that different, John," she replied dangerously. "My mouth, for one, isn't on my forehead."

"Oh." He raised a mischievous eyebrow. "Then where is it?"

Her eyes wandered over his face, trying to take in every detail as she imagined what his skin would feel like. A part of her hoped he was doing the same, trying to make out the details of her face through her _damned_ helmet. She took a deep breath, and barely detected a scent that had managed to pass through the myriad of filters that isolated her from the outside air. As her eyes drifted back to his, she realized what the source was.

It was _his_ scent.

_Oh, to hell with it._

Tali glued her mask to his face, her lips locked to the inner surface of her vocalizer as the other side pressed on where she knew his mouth was and nearly slamming him on a wall in her enthusiasm. She almost pulled away right then and there, but the man's muffled yelp sounded more _pleased_ than upset.

She smiled.

The quarian pressed harder, trying to imagine what it would all _feel_ like. His lips. His skin. His hair. His muscles. His back. She drank in all the details she could with her hands as her upper lip touched part of the glass visor. It didn't matter that the metal base and chinguard of her helmet dug uncomfortably into her throat from the unexpected pressure. It didn't matter that she was finding it hard to breathe with her nose mashed against her visor and her mouth stuck to her vocalizer. It didn't matter that her food and water tubes were scratching against the sides of her chin as the helmet was shoved back. It didn't matter that the helmet tugged back on her hair slightly as her head thrust forward within it. And it most certainly didn't matter that she caught sight of Ken's spying face down the hall when she finally did break for air.

The only things that mattered to her were the grins that split her John's faces when they separated.

"So that's where your mouth is."

Tali's cheeks burned at the comment, and she noticed several thin red lines on the human's chin from where her helmet had dug into his skin. Her face warmed even more from embarrassment at the sight. "Keelah, I didn't know I was pressing that hard. I don't know what came over me."

Of course, the quarian knew that the second part of her statement had been a complete lie. She wasn't about to let the human know that, though.

"I didn't mind," the human replied coolly. "Maybe I can show them to Grunt, tell him they're a battle trophy."

Her eyes shot open as she squealed in terror. "You wouldn't!"

John chuckled and shook his head. "You're right. I wouldn't." He rubbed his thumb against one of the creases in his skin, restoring it to an unblemished -if slightly red- state. "See? Good as new."

She frowned as he continued to rub away the marks. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-"

"Tali," he cut in. "It's okay, I want this too." He squeezed her hand for emphasis. "You, if anyone, deserve it."

She still didn't believe him, but the squeeze did remind her of the drell's words from earlier. She nodded, her mind racing. _I may not deserve him now, but I can keep him safe in the meantime. Thane was right: I can earn the right to stand by him._ She tightened her hold on his hand in return. _And once I do, I can hold him in my arms for real, without this damned prison._ A smile spread across her face with the silent pledge as she pulled him into an embrace.

One fueled by hope.

"I understand, John."

Her omni-tool began to beep furiously.

"You could ignore it, you know," the human joked as she pulled back.

"True, but it's an urgent message. And I'm a quarian. I have to answer it."

"I've had my share of 'high-priority' messages, Tali. They tend to be serious mood-killers."

The quarian snorted with laughter and shook her head as she pulled up the message without looking. _I've already survived one 'suicide mission' with him, and look how that turned out. Plus, he actually accepted me as more than just a friend and crewmate. If it's my father being paranoid again, he can sulk all he wants. Nothing could ruin this day._

"Come on, John. Can it really be that bad?"

Tali took a single look at the message, her eyes widening with shock from a single horrible word as she collapsed against him. Her breath hitched painfully as she clutched at her chest, feeling as though her heart had literally stopped. Tali was dimly aware of the human at her side shouting as her mind ebbed into unconsciousness.

The answer, evidently, had been a resounding "yes".

* * *

**Note from the author:**  
**Yes, I'm evil. And yes, it's that time...**

**Ah, the flower...**  
**And before anyone asks, it is _that_ flower. ;)**  
**/s/5705653/10/Finding-a-Way**  
**Thought it would be a nice catalyst *hiss* for Tali's little intrusion on the poker-table talk**

**As for what happened with Anderson, I wanted to give a legitimate reason for why Udina's representing humanity on the council in ME3, while tying in some of the events from _Mass Effect: Retribution_  
(The Drew Karpyshyn novel, not a fanfic)  
****It's not required reading though; I'll give out the important bits over time.**


	14. Homecoming

13: Homecoming

"So all of this was for, what, a typo?"

The other occupants of the med bay ignored Garrus as they looked to Chakwas. The doctor held an instrument in her hand over Tali's head as she stared at the readouts on her omni-tool. After a few more moments, the tool beeped and she lowered her arms.

"The good news is you're physically fine, Tali," the doctor replied. "No signs of chemical imbalance or issues with your blood work, so I'd say it was solely stress-triggered. The commander kept you from doing any damage to yourself on the way down." The named human, standing next to the bed, breathed a sigh of relief. "I'd say you're okay to leave whenever you want to." Kasumi smiled and nodded at the doctor in thanks from her spot on Tali's other side, putting a hand on the engineer's shoulder. Chakwas, meanwhile, took her leave. "I'll be in the mess if you need me, Commander. I hear Rupert restocked at the Citadel, and I'd rather not miss out on the calamari gumbo this time."

As the doctor walked out the door, the others stayed where they were, the silence palpable. Not even Miranda, who was standing with her arms folded by the window to the mess hall, had spoken. _Still, that ship name sounds so familiar for some reason. Some perp I ran in for C-Sec, maybe? But I'm sure Tali wouldn't faint over something so simple as a registry error. It just doesn't add up._

Noticing that nobody had taken the initiative to say something, the turian decided to speak again.

"What's the big deal about them calling her Tali'Zorah vas Nedas, anyway?"

He immediately regretted his question. The quarian flinched at his words, clutching at her chest and hyperventilating. Shepard reacted by trying to comfort her with several whispered words as the thief shot him a look dirty enough that even Zaeed would have curled away in discomfort. Garrus was spared from her evil eye by Miranda, who cleared her throat.

"Clearly there is some stigma about that particular ship name, but Garrus and I are in the dark here, Commander."

Garrus nodded and exhaled as Kasumi turned her attention to Tali. _Never thought I'd be glad that woman had tact._

Tali shared a look and a nod with Shepard, who began to stand up. "It's not the name of a ship," the human said, gently placing his words as he would footsteps in a minefield. "The word holds a certain meaning for quarians, and is hard to translate directly. The most accurate translation is 'the-un-place-for-undeserved-life'." He gave a nervous glance to the quarian, but continued. "Most translators just shorten it to 'nowhere', but the human term 'purgatory' is the closest I've heard in meaning. It's... well... The word is..."

"It's the brand of an exile," Tali murmured, just loud enough to be heard.

"So she can't return to the Neema?" Garrus asked uncertainly as understanding lit up Miranda's face. "I'm pretty sure another ship on the fleet would welcome her though. You'd have to be a fool to turn down an engineer as talented as Tali."

"It doesn't work that way, Garrus," the quarian mumbled with a shake of her head. "Exiles are not allowed to initiate contact with the Flotilla, its people, or anyone on Pilgrimage. Their names are stricken from the manifest of every ship they've ever served on, and their families remove them from their ancestral records. They can only talk to a quarian who has specifically spoken to them first, unless they are also exiled. Any children they have are free to return if they so choose, but the parents are still shunned by any quarians who meet them. Any exile who violates those terms is subject to immediate execution."

"Spirits..." _Abandoned by not just their ship and clan, but the whole species... That sounds worse than being labeled barefaced._ "But that doesn't sound like something they'd just do out of the blue. Most species would have a trial for that sort of thing- something to give the accused a chance to defend themselves."

The quarian bowed her head over her arm, fiddling with her omni-tool. Garrus heard a hushed "human English" before she thrust her arm out in front of Kasumi, the characters of her omni-tool in the humans' Latin alphabet instead of Khelish script as they glowed in the air. The thief, understanding the gesture, began to read aloud.

"_From the desk of Admiral Zaal'Koris vas Quib Quib of the Migrant Fleet. To Tali'Zorah vas Ned-_" She cut herself off with a faked cough, but Tali made no indication that she'd heard anything. Kasumi continued reading. "_Tali'Zorah, this ultimatum supersedes any and all previous orders or assignments. You are hereby ordered to return to the Migrant Fleet to answer to charges for the following crime: high treason against the Migrant Fleet and her people._"

The thief and soldier blanched as the turian's mandibles flung outward in shock. "Bullshit," he murmured. "She would never have..."

Miranda hummed, drawing his attention. She shrugged under the turian's look. "It could be a reaction to her mission here, if they view it as working with Cerberus."

"No," Shepard cut in. "She was given permission to serve here by the Admiralty Board. I still have Rael's message approving the transfer; this can't be because of that."

"I don't know," Kasumi added, "but your guess is as good as mine, Shep." She looked back to Tali's omni-tool and continued reading. "_An ongoing trial is being held in the liveship Rayya. Your presence is demanded within the next Rannoch standard day. (Deadline listed - Earth date: 2185-09-29 at 0535 Earth UTC/Rannoch date: 2938-18-4 at 0800 Flotilla Time) Per the nature of the charges against you, your ship name has been stripped until a verdict can be reached regarding your culpability in the aforementioned crime. Should you choose to attend the trial, however, it will be restored on a conditional basis, pending the final verdict of the Admiralty Board. Captain Kar'Danna vas Rayya has orders to arrest you on arrival, to ensure your attendance. Current coordinates of Quarian Flotilla follow._"

The turian blinked in surprise. "Damn. That's... Why so soon?"

"We don't have the spare resources for long-term incarceration," the quarian murmured. "If someone is charged with a crime, the trial happens immediately to limit the loss of productivity. In the case of Pilgrims or those away from the fleet, we're given two Rannoch-standard days to return."

"And the fact that it's tomorrow?" the ship's XO asked.

"Means that something serious has happened in the fleet." Tali turned to Shepard, her normally-luminous eyes somewhat dimmer than the turian usually saw. "I'll find my own transport from Omega. The Shadow Broker's too important to-"

"No, Tali," the commander interrupted. "Nobody, you least of all, should stand alone at a time like this. I'm coming with you."

"And so am I," Kasumi quipped. "I'd make for a pretty terrible hesh'nealan if I didn't."

_Did my translator just glitch? I'll just assume she meant "friend", in which case..._ "You can count me in as well, Tali. I learned on the last Normandy that it's a bad idea to bet against a quarian with a shotgun. I haven't made that mistake again since, and I won't be breaking that habit now."

The engineer looked around at the others, seemingly perplexed by her friends' commitment. "But what about the mission? The Shadow Broker?"

"The chances are slim that Aria can tell us anything about where he is," Shepard said, locking eyes with her. "Isn't that right, Miranda?"

_I'm not sure asking her is such a good idea..._

The Cerberus operative remained silent for an uncomfortably long moment. To his surprise, however, when the woman's pensive expression shifted, it was to one that was more placid than argumentative.

"Agreed, Commander. Besides, she's likely to want something in return for the information. Aria's been on Omega for centuries, I doubt that will change overnight."

At that moment, EDI's hologram lit up from near Chakwas's desk. "I have alerted Helmsman Moreau to our imminent course change. If you wish, I can relay the coordinates directly to him to save time."

_And this year's award for "most emphatic 'NO!' heard around the galaxy" goes to..._

For the second time in less than a minute, the turian was proven wrong. Tali swept her eyes around the room once more, looking at all of them in turn before gazing back at the AI's avatar.

"Okay."

* * *

"But I still don't know, John. They don't usually level charges like this unless they're absolutely sure. And the fact that they're already having the hearing-"

"Tali, we'll get you out of this. I promise."

John flashed the quarian a quick smirk as the elevator door opened to the CIC. The engineer beside him visibly deflated, her shoulders going to a more relaxed position as he stepped out of the elevator car. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but something about the act tended to calm down the quarian somewhat.

Even though he still had no idea if he'd be able to follow through with his promise.

They crossed the deck in virtually no time flat, and soon could hear the sound of the pilot's voice from the cockpit.

"-ously, Garrus. After the haul you got from the bet, I'm surprised you're not gloating. Your tongue's usually sharper at times like that."

The turian shook his head, standing off to the side of the cockpit's entrance. "Joker, now is not the time."

"Come on, nothing about how you made off like a bandit? I'm sure Kasumi would-"

"Take away that tub of ice cream you have in the freezer?" Shepard asked, projecting his voice as he and Tali stepped into cockpit.

"Touche, Commander," the pilot murmured. "Going for my pride and my stomach."

"If I really wanted it to hurt, I'd have mentioned your extranet history."

"Right..." Joker's voice became significantly more serious. "We're closing in on the relay now, Commander. Jumping to the Valhallan Threshold cluster in twenty."

"That's all it takes? And I thought I'd have to dig deeper into his files to find some dirt on him," Kasumi murmured, shimmering into view from the copilot's seat. The pilot, however, didn't react to her presence, concentrating on the myriad of interfaces as he brought the ship closer to the gargantuan mass relay.

"You came in fifteen seconds after Garrus. I know my space, Kasumi. Comes with the whole 'sit in a chair for twenty hours a day' routine. I'm on a first-name basis with every speck of dust here. Five seconds."

A tendril of blue-white energy lashed out from the relay, enveloping the windows in a flash of light just as they felt the surge from leaping instantaneously both to and from FTL. Immediately, an interface flashed red as an alarm went off.

"Oh, crap! Taking evasive maneuvers."

"Alert," EDI toned. "Detecting pings from multiple instances of weapons lock. Unknown communications signatures attempting contact. Fifteen craft of various types incoming. Engaging ECM procedures. Firewalls active. Guardian defenses active in ten-"

"**STOP!**"

Everyone's heads turned to the quarian, who had rushed toward the AI's glowing avatar. "We can't let them see us as a threat." She turned toward the pilot, who, to his credit, was undeterred from his own actions, weaving the ship through space as easily as one would wiggle a finger. "Stop avoiding them."

"Estimated time to enemy lock-on: eight seconds."

Joker, meanwhile, was still straining to keep the ship away from the enemies. "Commander, what's your call? I can make it back to the relay if you want to go weapons-hot."

All it took was a single look from Tali.

"Shut down all electronic countermeasures, EDI," Shepard ordered. "Let them come to us, and open a comm channel if you can."

Immediately, an unfamiliar voice came in over the radio. "_Repeat. Unidentified vessel, this is the scout ship Draec of the Flotilla's Fifteenth Patrol Squadron. Please adjust your heading to 325-by-plus-23 and hold velocity at two-thousandths light-speed. You have ten seconds to respond._"

John stepped forward, resting a hand on Joker's shoulder. "This is Commander John Shepard of the Normandy SR2. We will comply with your order." Thankfully, the pilot next to him took the hint and remained silent. The human's fingers danced over the holographic displays for only a moment longer, then sat still as the ship slowed to a relative crawl.

"_Course change acknowledged. State your business with the Migrant Fleet, or adjust heading to 212-by-zero to indicate that you wish to turn back to the relay._"

The ship's resident quarian spoke up. "This is Tali'Zorah vas Neema nar Rayya, requesting permission to dock with the Rayya."

"_One moment... Our system has your ship flagged as Cerberus. Verify._"

The human soldier shared a confused look with Garrus. _Verify that Cerberus built the ship? That sounds... unsafe._

Tali, however, resumed speaking. "After time adrift among open stars, along tides of light and through shoals of dust, I will return to where I began."

_That was interesting._ Out of the corner of his eye, John could have sworn he'd seen the thief's eyes widen with recognition.

"_Permission granted. Transferring you to the Rayya for docking instructions._"

The line momentarily fizzed with static, then another voice came in. "_This is Rayya to Normandy SR2. Welcome home, Tali'Zorah._"

"Thank you," the quarian replied, her voice turning morose. "We'd like a security and quarantine team to meet us. Our ship is not clean."

"I resent that," Joker muttered.

"_Understood. Approach at heading 57-by-minus-13 at point-three light-speed and await further instructions. You will be docking at exterior cradle 17._"

"Normandy reads you loud and clear, Rayya," the pilot stated, louder. "Making our approach now."

A binary pair of stars, both massive blue giants, took up most of the view through the ship's windows as the vessel changed its course. A faint glint shone from directly ahead of them. As minutes ticked by, it resolved into a collection of smaller crystalline reflections, like sugary dust over a dark table. Time continued to pass, and the cockpit's non-quarian occupants shared a collective gasp.

"_Decelerate to point-one light-speed._"

The reflective specks had grown into a massive cloud of vessels, ranging in size from an innumerable amount of specklike shuttles that glinted in the twin suns' light to a trio of ships large enough to see clearly from even their extreme distance. One of the three was rapidly growing larger in the center of the window, their apparent destination.

_She grew up on that? It's bigger than half of the Alliance's dreadnoughts!_

He found his attention diverted from the awe-inspiring size of the fleet and Joker's continued conversation as Tali slunk away. She quietly stepped into the airlock, her head held down. He slipped in behind her, whispering as he entered the chamber.

"Tali?"

She didn't answer.

"Tali," he repeated, louder.

He heard a sniffle. "Sorry, it's nothing, John."

The human spun her around. "'Nothing' wouldn't make you sneak away like that, Tali."

"I'm just... worried, I guess... About what Father and Auntie Raan would think, if... If I could never call myself that name again."

He pulled her close, embracing the quarian in a tight hug.

"This won't be the last time."

* * *

The airlock opened with a silent hiss, allowing Tali to lead the others onto the Rayya. A group of armed soldiers stood beyond the gate, one of whom the quarian recognized.

"Captain Kar'Danna?"

"I see you're well, Tali," the man responded as John walked up behind her. "You must be Captain Shepard. Captain Kar'Danna vas Rayya," he replied, holding his hand out. Tali noticed the commander's hesitation, his surprise that the quarian knew of the human interaction evident.

"I take it she's told you a lot about me," he said, returning the friendly gesture in a handshake.

"That she has. I wish we could have met under more pleasant circumstances. She was a great asset to the Rayya, even before her Pilgrimage."

John nodded. "She's helped us out of many difficult situations. I'm here to return the favor."

"You picked a hell of a battle to help her out of." Kar turned toward Tali. "I wish I could do more to help, Tali'Zorah vas Normandy."

"Yeah, I gu- WHAT?!" _No... They didn't..._

Garrus spoke out from the back. "I take it that's a bad sign."

She stammered out a response. "It's... It means they don't even... Like I'm not considered quarian anymore..."

"Hey, kid," Kar cooed. "You've still got friends who believe you're innocent. I heard there's a couple of people from one of your squads speaking for you now, and Admiral Raan's making sure you at least have a fair trial, even though she had to recuse herself. I'm technically supposed to be neutral, but I'm here if you need to talk."

"Thanks... I imagine Father had to recuse himself as well."

The quarian captain didn't speak, patting her on the shoulder instead.

"Does she get someone to speak for her defense?" Shepard asked, cutting through the pregnant silence.

"Yes, Captain Shepard," Kar responded. "It's a captain's duty to provide for and protect their crew. You're officially her advocate under quarian law."

Tali's eyes widened.

"So that means Shep would be representing you?" Kasumi asked.

"Yes, it d-" Kar cut himself off and stiffened at the sight of the thief. "Where is your mask? Your hard-suit? Quick! Seal the emergency bulk-"

"Relax," Kasumi said, gripping at part of her cheek. "It's a transparent, form-fitting mask. The suit's also sealed against atmo." She pinched at the plastic, stretching it so the material could catch the light.

"Check her," he said, gesturing to one of the female guards. "I'd rather not have to worry about things getting worse for Tali."

"What exactly do you mean by 'worse'?" the turian asked as the guard passed her omni-tool over Kasumi. A moment later, the interface flashed green, and the quarian took her place by Kar once more. The Rayya's captain, however, looked uncertain how to put his words. Eventually he simply shook his head.

"Admiral Raan won't let me say the specifics, but they're charging her with bringing active geth onto the Fleet for a secret project."

"Wha- That's insane!" Tali yelled out. "I never brought active geth aboard. I only sent parts and pieces."

"You sent geth bits back to the Migrant Fleet?" Kasumi asked, once more taking her spot next to the Normandy's engineer.

"Well, yes. My father requested the materials for a project. I made sure that it was all harmless though. I mean if i sent back something that was only damaged, not permanently inactive..."

_Myr'Jorin vanishes in a blast of fire and smoke. She and her remaining companion rush across the courtyard, shields sizzling from Dholen's radiation. She doesn't stop her charge, not even bothering to check if the fire from her shotgun hit its targets. With a wave of her omni-tool, the massive door seals behind them. Her companion collapses, an ominously-spreading pool of red surrounding her prone form. "QUALA!"_

"No..." Tali denied with a shake of her head. "No, I checked everything. I was careful."

John locked eyes with her through the slits in his old N7 helmet. _It's okay, Tali._ She took a deep breath as he spoke with Kar. "We should get going. Where is the plaza?"

"Straight down the hall, fifth double-door on your right. You can't miss it. They've already started the proceedings."

"Thank you, Captain Danna," Tali murmured as the four of them walked away.

"Good luck," he called back, but the captain's voice was drowned out by hissed whispers from a trio of passing quarians.

"I can't believe they're charging her with such a thing. Didn't she help save the Citadel from the geth attack? And what about Haestrom?"

"Loyalty to the Fleet is about more than just killing geth. Tali'Zorah's guilty."

"It won't matter either way. If she can't even get a quarian captain to stand for her, she's as good as convicted."

"Tali?"

She shook her head, realizing that she had stopped in her tracks. Shepard continued to look at her, his pose emanating concern.

"Sorry, I was distracted."

He took her hand. "It's okay, Tali."

_She watches as Den'Kora walks off to repair the scanner. The damned sun had fried the thing right after they'd placed it, just before she'd started recording her latest report. The engineer shakes her head as Kora calls over a pair of marines to assist. The recording software suddenly cuts out as her omni-tool beeps a warning: massive radiation spike detected. She glances up right as the scanner overloads with a burst of sparks._

"But... I still don't know," Tali murmured. "I mean I know I was thorough, but what if I messed up somewhere? What if something activated anyway?"

"Enough of that," John replied. "You said you were careful, and I believe you." He gestured toward a door, which Garrus and Kasumi stood by. "Are you ready?"

She looked between him and the others. _So long as they're with me..._ "I'm as ready as I can be," she said with a nod.

They stepped up to the door, and it opened to a cacophony of yelling.

"Look at them! They don't care about Tali. She risked her life for all of our sakes, both on Haestrom and on the Citadel. She deserves better than this!"

"Quala is right. Tali saved me! She doesn't deserve to be exiled."

"Damn straight! She's done more for this fleet than you assholes ever will. You're pissing on everything I fought for, everything Tali fought for! So if you exile her... you might as well do the same to me."

"Me, too."

"Count me in as well."

Tali's eyes widened as the four of them waded into the din. A gaggle of quarians sat in a depression in the center of the plaza, frantically speaking to each other as a trio of people she recognized stood before four of the five admirals.

_Quala, Kal, and Veetor spoke for me..._ Her gratitude for their presence was suddenly quashed as a fourth quarian she recognized rose to his feet. The others' words died down as he strode to Quala's side.

"An admirable performance," the yellow-suited quarian drawled with condescension, "but all you've spoken of is Tali'Zorah as you knew her. Two close friends and the word of one rescued, and not entirely by her own hand if I might add, cannot be trusted to give a complete picture of her state. Besides, we're not looking at her character here, but her culpability in actions that have threatened not just the Alarei, but quite possibly the entire fleet. Every one of you has been put at risk, and there isn't even any concrete evidence that she could possibly be innocent. She won't even show up to her own hearing to-"

"I'll speak for myself!" Tali said with a growl, glaring daggers at the man.

A collective rustle ran through the crowd of people at her words. She kept her eyes on the yellow-suited quarian as she moved to take her place at the stand in the middle of the clearing. Tali only broke her stare to nod thankfully at her three quarian friends, who dispersed back to their seats. She barely noticed that Garrus and Kasumi had found their own before resuming her malicious look, which the other happily returned.

"Tali'Zorah."

"Sanir'Tovo."

"Order," the admiral in the rear stated. Tali looked up to Shala'Raan, who cleared her throat before speaking again from her elevated position behind three of the four other admirals.

_Where is Father?_

"Let the records show that Tali'Zorah vas Normandy nar Rayya has appeared as requested. I trust the accused has come with her captain to defend against the charges?"

John stepped forward beside her. "Commander John Shepard, commanding officer of the Norman-"

"Objection!" Tali's gaze slid to the quarian standing directly in front of Raan. He pointed angrily at Shepard as he continued to speak. "A human has no business at a hearing involving geth-sensitive military matters!"

"Then you should not have declared Tali crew of the Normandy, Admiral Koris," Raan snapped. "By right as Tali's captain, Shepard must stay."

"Objection withdrawn," Koris grumbled.

Were it not for the grave situation before her, Tali would have grinned at her surrogate aunt's defense. As it was, she found her attention pulled to the other two admirals standing before her. Admiral Han'Gerrel she recognized, barely masking his nod of apparent approval at Raan's action. _They never did really like each other,_ she recalled of the two male admirals before her.

The fourth admiral, however, was someone she didn't recognize. _The one that replaced Admiral Taris,_ she remembered, noting that the woman still showed signs of youth in her own muscles. _What was her name again? _Despite the unknown admiral's unbent stance and tireless poise, however, her eyes drifted to and fro with indifference.

"-remains Tali'Zorah vas Neema, a proud member of the Migrant Fleet." Tali brought her attention back to the trial, having nearly fallen into the same trap the unknown admiral apparently had. Shepard, meanwhile, continued speaking. "I regret that her captain is forbidden to stand at her side today."

"Nobody has been forbidden from anything," Koris responded. "It is a simple-"

"Lie to him if you must, Zaal'Koris, but don't lie to me and expect me to stay silent!" Gerrel turned back toward Tali and Shepard. "The human is right."

_Thank you, Han._

"Regardless," Tovo chipped in, "she has spent the minimum amount of time onboard both Normandy vessels to be considered a part of her crew. Meanwhile, most of her time with the Neema was spent away from the vessel on missions. Calling Captain Reinadt vas Neema to speak for her would be an insult."

"Thank you, Sanir'Tovo," Koris replied. "As you can see, she should-"

"Admirals please." Koris bristled at being interrupted a second time, but didn't intervene with Shala's speech. "Shepard's willingness to represent Tali in this hearing is appreciated. Tali, you are accused of bringing active geth to the migrant fleet. What say you?"

"Tali would never endanger the Migrant Fleet," John responded. "She pleads not guilty."

"A likely story with no corroborating evidence. But please, let's hear it from her own mouth."

The engineer, however, barely noticed Shepard and Tovo. At the mention of active geth, the fourth admiral's whole demeanor had shifted completely. Where there was once uncaring aloofness, she could now see a pointed stare coming from her. Before she knew it, she had lapsed into her old habit of fidgeting with her fingers, nearly stammering out her reply.

"I left parts and technology for teams to pick up. My father ordered me to do so. But I would never send active geth to the fleet! Everything I sent was disabled and harmless!"

Koris leaned away, folding his arms. "Then explain how geth seized the ship where your father was working!"

"What?" Tali yelped, her eyelids stretching wide as murmurs again ran through the crowd. "What are you talking about? What happened?"

The three judging admirals traded glances, which ended with Gerrel becoming the recipient of the others' looks. He shook his head and began to speak. "As far as we can tell, Tali, the geth have killed everyone on the Alarei... Your father included."

"What? No, that can't... Oh, Keelah..." The quarian felt faint, but planted her hands on the stand in front of her to steady herself. "If Father's hurt... And the Alarei..." Her mind suddenly grasped the full magnitude of the first part of Gerrel's statement, and she shot upright. "We have to take back the Alarei immediately!"

John nodded to her, then faced the board. "I appreciate the need for this trial, admirals, but right now our first concern must be the safety of the Migrant Fleet. The Normandy stands ready to assist in whatever capacity necessary."

"Some of our best marines were all wiped out within minutes of stepping onto that ship," Tovo replied. "As head of internal fleet security, I recommend the immediate demolition of the Alarei, followed by salvaging the vessel for parts."

Tali glared daggers at the yellow-suited quarian. "That isn't going to happen. We'll retake the Alarei."

Koris, meanwhile, gave a harrumph of displeasure. "I agree that the safest course would be to simply destroy the ship. But if you are looking for an honorable death instead of exile-"

"I'm looking for my father, you bosh'tets!" Tali yelled, slamming a fist into the console. Her head hung low over the platform. _Father... Please be alright..._

"With your permission, admirals, we can take the ship back from the geth," John filled in for her. "The good of the fleet must come first... and Tali needs to find her father."

She felt his hand brush against hers, and she stood straighter. _He's right._ The quarian brushed her arm against his as she faced the admirals again, as much of a gesture as she could afford without drawing undue attention. She looked up just in time to see the fourth admiral's eyes slide back into indifference. Gerrel, however, showed nothing of the sort.

"Agreed. And if you die on this worthy mission, Tali, we will see that your name is cleared of these charges."

"We can discuss that later," Koris muttered, for once getting his word in edgewise without being cut off.

"Then it is decided," Raan said, projecting her voice. "Tali will attempt to retake the Alarei. You are hereby given leave to depart the Rayya. A shuttle will be waiting for you in the hangar. Be safe, Tali. This hearing will resume upon your return, or upon determination that you have been killed in action."

"Thank you, admirals," John said. "We'll head there immediately." The board began to leave their places, and the seated quarians began to queue their way out of the plaza.

* * *

_Just when I thought we weren't going to be shooting anything today..._

John Shepard searched through the mass of quarians surrounding him and Tali. He easily found Garrus and waved him over, but didn't bother to do the same for Kasumi. She'd been hassled once about her suit already; if the thief didn't want to be seen in a crowd like this, she wouldn't be. _Besides, she's probably on her way here already._

"Hope you have room for two more," a voice chimed in from behind him. He turned around to see Kal, Quala by his side as they nodded to Tali. "You saved our asses, Ma'am. I say it's about time we returned the favor."

The yellow-suited quarian, Tovo, hadn't left yet. He snorted with apparent amusement as he watched the approaching marines. "What makes you think the two of you are allowed to assist her?"

"The fact that you won't be able to stop us," Quala growled.

"Oh, I won't stop you. But if you want to show that she can't solve her own problems without endangering others in the Fleet..." He trailed off, allowing his threat to sink in. "You're more than welcome to go."

"He's right," Tali grumbled with no small amount of annoyance. "Thanks for the offer though, both of you." She turned to Shepard. "Let's go, John. Garrus and Kasumi are already here."

The human saw the two quarian friends trade a glance. "Ma'am, I don't see-"

"My bad," Kasumi replied, appearing at her elbow. "Forgot I had my cloak on. These three always seem to know when I'm around anyway."

"Right," Garrus said, gesturing toward the door they'd entered the plaza through. "Shall we?"

John nodded, turning away as the yellow-suited quarian folded his arms.

"Yes, leave right when she'll need you the most."

He stopped in his tracks.

"What the hell are you talking about, Tovo?" the human gruffly asked.

"It's quite simple, really. If she dies or doesn't come back within a reasonable amount of time, this trial will resume without her." John cast a glance over his shoulder as Tovo continued speaking. "If her captain isn't here, she won't have anyone to speak in her defense."

"My XO is aboard the Normandy," the N7 soldier responded. "If the trial resumes, she can-"

"Get turned away by at the airlock by security," the quarian cut in. "The only reason _you_ were allowed aboard is because the admirals were convinced you didn't act in Cerberus's best interests on Freedom's Progress. But if, say, the woman who suggested that Cerberus take Veetor in for interrogation was your executive officer," he added with a cold stare, "I can personally guarantee that she would never set foot onto this ship alive."

"Is that a threat, sir?" Shepard asked, meeting the quarian's look with his own. To his surprise, Tovo was one of only a handful of people he'd met who didn't shy away from it.

"No, Shepard. It's a promise. As head of internal security, I would die rather than allow another Idenna incident to happen."

The human backed off, looking back at his companions. The feel of Tali's pleading stares cut into him as Kasumi's face filled with concern and worry. The turian's helmet, however, hung low with despondence.

_Wait a minute..._ He opened his omni-tool, opening a long-forgotten program. "Garrus, how's your leg?"

His masked head raised slightly. "Shepard, I don't follow-"

"How's your leg." he repeated, lowering his arm.

"It's not bothering me at the moment," the turian said as he shifted his weight slightly. "Chakwas wants me to go easy on it for another day or two, but I feel combat-ready."

"Sit this one out, you're coming on the next mission."

"Sir?" he asked, his head tilting slightly to the side.

"If you think you can circumvent it by leaving a random squad member here, you're sorely mistaken," Tovo said with a huff. "Only someone with a position of authority, who's known both Tali and her captain, will be trusted to speak for her."

"Of course," John said with a smirk. "That's why I'm leaving my second-in-command here."

The turian took a step back. "Um, that didn't go over so well last time."

"That's an understatement," Kal added with a pointed look. The marine pulled his partner closer as Garrus flinched.

_He did delay Quala's treatment after Haestrom at gunpoint when I was injured,_ Shepard remembered, noting how Kal was trying, unsuccessfully, to shield the woman from the perceived threat.

"At any rate," Garrus continued, "Miranda won't just roll over and let me assume command. If it wasn't for Tali, the crew would've been split right down the middle as far as loyalty goes."

"I know she won't, because she still thinks she's the best person for the job. That's why you'll have to tell her this if I don't come back," John said, stepping closer. "She's the best at what she does. She's organized, and stays on top of the little things that anyone else in her position would let slip through the cracks. Nobody on our crew, except maybe EDI, could keep the ship maintained as well as she does. At the same time, you're the best man to command. You alone have experience commanding a varied squad of this size on the ground. You alone have had to gather intel, infiltrate, plan, attack, and destroy enemies using teams of specialized soldiers. You alone have had the most experience, and the most success, at doing what I do because of Omega."

"But... they all died, Shepard. I couldn't save any of them, not even Sid." John, however, put a hand on his shoulder.

"And that's why I trust you to keep the others alive. Because I know for damn sure that you won't dare to let it happen again." His eyes slid over to Tali as he turned, but only for a moment. "Tovo," he said, facing the quarian, "Garrus here was on my team on the original Normandy. He's been a part of my crew for longer than Tali, and knows how the ship operates. More importantly, he knows both me and Tali better than anyone aboard." Kasumi cleared her throat, drawing a semiconscious glance. "Better than anyone _currently_ aboard," he corrected. "Most important, however, is that he is not and never has been directly affiliated with Cerberus. He's my crew member, not the Illusive Man's." He looked down, touching a key on his omni-tool. Garrus's instantly pinged in response. "And I just sent recordings of this conversation to him, XO Lawson, and the Normandy. That should make things official enough for you."

To his surprise, the quarian didn't respond with anger. "I see the admirals have done Tali a favor by stripping 'Neema' from her name. I don't suppose you have a good reason to follow her in as well?" he asked, with a glance at Kasumi.

"I'm not letting my hesh'nealan go in there alone."

He stiffened with apparent surprise at the Khelish term, but made the slightest of nods. "Good luck aboard the Alarei, I'm sure you'll need it." Tovo strode off, brushing Tali's arm roughly as he passed.

"Jerk," Kasumi muttered.

"And I thought Udina was the biggest asshole I'd ever meet," Garrus concurred. John nodded in assent as he watched the quarian leave.

Tali took his arm. "He's definitely a bigger bosh'tet than Udina."

"Somehow, I don't think that quite covers it, Ma'am."

"More like a festering, slime-encrusted biea."

"Quala!"

"What? You know it's true."

* * *

"So what does-"

"No, I'm not telling you what that word means, Garrus. Not now, not ever."

Tali shook her head in irritation as they finally made their way to the edge of the plaza. The turian, meanwhile, feigned indifference at her cutting remark. Poorly.

"Is there anyone you want to talk to before we go?" John asked, diffusing her annoyance slightly.

_"Raan won't let me give the specifics..."_ she mouthed, remembering Kar'Danna's words from earlier. The quarian looked around, quickly finding a grey-and-white-suited admiral conversing with another quarian.

"Just the one," she growled angrily.

Without another word, she stormed over to the pair. The engineer ignored their words as she came within earshot of them.

"-was readied like you asked. Clearance should come through any moment now."

"It's a small ray of light, but one that I am grateful for. The Ancestors know she most certainly needs it at a time like-"

"You set me up, Shala!"

The younger of the two jumped, her eyes widening in shock at Tali's sudden entrance. The admiral, however, slowly turned to face her. Her tired stance showed not a hint of surprise.

_She expected this? She planned the whole thing?!_ Tali seethed as she raised an accusatory finger. "You told Captain Danna not to say anything. I didn't even hear that my father may be hurt or-" She felt a tear coming, but shook it away. "-or... worse until the trial!" Raan's partner quietly backed away, but Tali ignored her in favor of the elder quarian. "Why, Shala? Why couldn't I know?" she yelled, her voice nearly cracking as she choked back a sob.

Raan's shoulders slumped slightly. "The other admirals needed to hear the shock in your voice, Tali. Otherwise, they might not have let you try to retake the Alarei. Between Tovo's prosecution and Admiral Koris pushing to destroy the vessel, we were lucky to get you that much. We cannot afford sensitivity, child, but for what it's worth I'm sorry."

Tali's mouth opened and closed several times, words failing her as her furious mind worked feverishly to come up with something to say. She was distracted as Shepard placed a hand on her back. _Calm down, Tali._

She didn't want to.

"I know this isn't the best of circumstances, but will this really help Tali's case?" the soldier asked.

The admiral nodded. "Tali showing a desire to correct mistakes she may have made will make up for a lot of lost ground. More importantly, you may find evidence of what happened. With luck, it will exonerate her from any wrongdoing."

"I'm supposed to care about that now?" the engineer cried out, the tears finally coming unabated. "All I want to do is find Father!"

"We will, Tali," Kasumi said as she took her hand. "We'll find him."

She gave the thief a grateful nod as she tried to master her emotions once more. Shepard, meanwhile, continued to speak to Raan.

"Can you tell us anything about the Alarei?"

"Not much, I'm afraid. Rael'Zorah only said that he was researching new defense technology. He even contracted a few structural engineers from other vessels, said they needed to retrofit and redesign the floorspace within to accommodate his testing scenarios. There's no guarantee that the layout will match our previous records. We didn't even know about the geth until the boarding party was attacked."

"So you're saying we have no intel?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying."

_Father..._ She failed at holding back a whimper.

"How long have you known Tali's family?" John asked, apparently trying to lighten the mood.

"In human terms? Almost thirty years, I guess. Her mother, Laenya, and I met after a disagreement arose between her and her former captain. He was very... How do you say? 'Uptight', I think is the word."

Tali chuckled slightly, remembering the story of the mirrored command center. Kasumi, who'd heard the story as well, shared a grin with her as Raan continued.

"Laenya and I agreed that she wasn't in the wrong, since she had done exactly what he'd asked, while using far fewer materials than anyone had expected. She had such a lively soul, always knew how to brighten even the darkest of places with her presence. I immediately approved her request to transfer to the Rayya and we were friends from that day forward. That was where she met Rael, and the rest has been sung by the Ancestors. I was there when Tali was born. I'd synced suits with Laenya so we could be in the same clean room for the birth. I was sick for a week afterward, but it was all worth it. I was the one who took Tali from her mother and put her in the bubble." Shala chuckled softly and gave a soft shake of her head. "She was so adorable, the child cried so hard."

Tali's face warmed slightly, though it was more from embarrassment than distress.

"I'm not hearing much about Rael's part in Tali's life."

"It's difficult to explain... I shouldn't-"

"It's okay Aunt Shala," Tali said with a slight sniffle. "No secrets between shipmates. I've told John and Kasumi a little about my father before."

Her cheeks warmed even more as Raan fixed her with a studious look. She suddenly became all too aware of how close the soldier had been standing to her the entire time. Shepard didn't react, but Tali stiffened as she realized her fatal mistake. _She knows. Of all the times to call him by his first name..._

"If you say so," the elder quarian said simply. "Rael was... committed to the quarian cause. That didn't leave him a lot of time for his family. He wanted to give Laenya the homeworld... or a strong fleet, at least. He took her death especially hard, but wanted to make sure that he could follow through on his promises for Tali's sake. He dedicated himself to finding a way to give Tali a chance at seeing Tikkun one day. That was how he showed his love."

Tali felt a tug at her arm as Shala finished speaking, subtle, but impossible to ignore. She looked at the thief, who tilted her head toward the door. The quarian gave a short nod.

"We should be going, Shala. It wouldn't help if Tovo started saying I was reluctant to go."

"You're right, Tali. I had a shuttle prepared for your arrival, in case you were allowed to board the Alarei. It is waiting in the same hanger where the Normandy was docked, in the next bay over."

"Thanks, Admiral," Shepard said, taking the engineer's hand. "Let's go, Tali." She couldn't help but notice that the elder quarian had fixed her with that knowing gaze once more before they turned away.

"Good luck on the Alarei," the elder quarian monotoned, clearly distracted.

_Keelah, as if I needed another reason for her to look at me like that._

Tali was saved, however, by the sound of a dual-toned alien voice.

"Koris and Gerrel were at each other's throats almost the entire time, and Xen didn't exactly hide that she was barely interested in the trial. What's really going on here, Admiral?"

"You caught that... Yes, the geth presence makes this a touchy issue."

_Garrus, you lovable, tactless bosh'tet..._ The thought almost brought a grin to her face.

Almost.

* * *

"I can't quite put my finger on it, but something here just isn't adding up."

Garrus nodded and folded his arms. "I'm glad someone agrees with me."

"Funny, I thought you just wanted to shoot things." He felt Kal's wary gaze for a moment, but the quarian didn't dare to shout him down after agreeing with his partner. "At least Gerrel's on our side, from the looks of it," he acquiesced. "He and Admiral Raan are hoping they'll blow up some geth, then come back with everything they'll need to prove her innocent."

"Do you think they'll find what they need?" the turian asked.

"With that bosh'tet shooting through our defense like we didn't matter?" the female soldier grumbled. "If you hadn't shown up when you did, he might have gotten her convicted then and there." Her male counterpart bowed his head in acknowledgement.

"It's doubtful. Even if things were ideal, Tovo could turn this trial around faster than you could say 'Keelah'. They'll need something bulletproof to stop him from swaying Koris, and there's still no guarantee that Xen will side with Tali."

Garrus flared his mandibles as far as his helmet would allow, instincts honed from his C-Sec days gnawing at him. "I'm sensing there's something there. What's the history with Tovo and Tali?"

"I'm not at liberty to say," the marine replied, earning a swatted arm from Quala.

"He's trying to help, bosh'tet!" The glow of Kal's eyes became wider for nearly a full second, though Garrus figured it was due to an eye roll. Regardless, Reegar began to speak.

"It's not so much about Tali as the Zorah clan in general. His father, a decorated soldier himself and chief engineer of the frigate Wolknir, fell ill due to exposure from a gunshot wound during an op several years ago. It took several hours for him to lead his squad back to the shuttle, and by then he was becoming delirious from his fever. The ship, unfortunately, didn't have enough of the supplies needed to really help his condition. It didn't help that he insisted that those under his command got to the med-bay first, claimed his own situation was hopeless." The quarian shook his head and continued. "Sanir pulled some strings from his end and placed his father on top of the transfer list to the Rayya, since the liveship's med bay had space and supplies to spare. What he didn't count on was that another would get their transfer request approved first, and by an admiral, no less." He locked eyes with Garrus. "Wal'Tovo died waiting for the shuttle that brought Laenya'Panil to the Rayya."

"Laenya?" the turian asked, his browplates shifting. "Like Tali's mother?"

"The very same," Quala said.

"Sanir blamed her for his father's death, but that wasn't the end of it."

"Not if that ass-kicking she gave him before she left for Pilgrimage was any indicator," the woman chimed in.

"Wait a minute," Garrus cut in. "You're telling me Tali actually got in a fistfight with the guy?"

"He always brought out the worst in her," Kal replied.

"The fact he called Tali and her mother... Well, the term doesn't exactly translate." Quala's eyes scrunched in thought, while Reegar's visor spun toward her.

"Called them what, Quala?"

"You didn't know?" she asked. "He called them..." The woman looked from side to side, checking if there were any listeners. She then whispered, barely loud enough for Garrus to hear. "He called them 'hyel'tets'."

Kal immediately jumped, his head suddenly on a swivel. "Where the hell is that bastard?" he roared. "I'll knock some sense into him myself.

"I take it that's some kind of extreme curse word?" the turian murmured, shocked by the quarian's outburst. Quala shook the marine's arm, getting him to stop his enraged search.

"It was six years ago, Kal. Let it go." She turned to the turian. "It's a term we never use just for fun. In the past, ships have nearly attacked each other just because captains heard their crew members were being called... that. It's one of the worst insults in our culture, calling someone... How do you say?"

"Irreparable and without purpose," the male quarian filled in for her, tone laced with distaste. "At any rate, Tali eventually sunk his chance at becoming an admiral."

Garrus shook his head. "Now you're just making this up."

"That's what Tali said when I told her, but she kept to herself a lot after finishing her Pilgrimage." Quala shrugged. "She was -understandably, I guess, given how she acted after she saw Shepard again- too distracted to notice that her name had been put forward for candidacy. It was probably Gerrel, Rael, or Raan that nominated her, if anyone. The fact she was originally part of the Rayya ate into Tovo's biggest support base."

Kal nodded. "Only reason she didn't win was because she didn't show up to the debate. Was away on a mission at the time, and she still only lost by a small margin. If she hadn't been in the running, Tovo would have gotten most of her votes from the Conclave. He would be on the board instead of Daro'Xen."

"Hardly an improvement," Quala murmured. "But that's not even the biggest thing."

"Really?" the turian asked with skepticism. "We've got 'indirect cause of his father's death', 'beaten in a fight', and 'lost the election she didn't even know she was part of'. How could you possibly top that?"

The two quarians traded a look. The woman apparently lost whatever silent contest they were having, as she raised her hands in exasperation. She looked back at Garrus.

"He lost his hesh'nealan, Prazza'Nal, on Freedom's Progress. Tali was leading that mission."

The turian's head cocked to the side. _Wasn't that the word Kasumi used earlier when talking to Tali? "Friend" or something like it? Those two are inseparable though. If one of them died-_ His eyes widened as realization crashed down on him.

_Well, that makes things difficult._

* * *

"Even during the hearing, her first thought was to protect the Fleet."

"Second. Her first was for her father."

"Regardless, Shepard did speak well. Surprising, for a human that wasn't in politics."

"It doesn't matter how well he spoke if she's guilty. Tovo's right, we can't let transgressions like this pass, regardless of what her past actions were."

"A bit harsh, don't you think?"

"He does have a point though. Shepard may not be able to talk his way out of this one, not with Tovo prosecuting. I don't have much faith in that turian of his either."

"Damn the turians! Racists, all of them!"

Tali shook her head as the all-too-familiar trio of quarians passed by them in the hall. They didn't even bother to lower their voices as they passed by, more than once shooting her a look of disdain.

"I'm starting to hate that guy," Kasumi murmured as the group fell out of earshot. "You'd think he'd at least notice we're standing right here."

Shepard pulled closer to the quarian. "Are you alright, Tali? They did drop a lot on you all at once."

"I know... I think I'll be fine."

The human pulled to a stop, turning her so she could meet his eyes through the slits in his helmet. "You don't look fine."

_Prazza's gun clatters to the ground amid a chorus of hushed words. She's far enough away that she doesn't see what it is that turns him into a fine red mist, but she can hear the screams as the rest of her traitorous squad, minus Quala, takes cover. Several are suddenly silenced as the volume of machine gun fire builds in intensity. She shares a concerned glance with her friend, then pokes her head around the corner._

_She immediately reaches for her comm, her blood pressure spiking as the YMIR's carnage unfolded._

Tali sighed. "I just- If I'm really responsible, I can take being exiled. But if my father..." She turned away, her eyes downcast. "I would never forgive myself if he died because of my mistakes."

He lifted her helmeted head. "You won't have to. You didn't make a mistake, Tali. I know you wouldn't have." His eyes sparked for a moment. "And you won't be convicted. We'll find a way out of this, so you can return to your people."

The quarian shook her head. "John, I don't care about being exiled. No matter what happens, I want to stay on the Normandy. This mission's more important than anything happening in the Fleet. Keelah, if the collectors and reapers win... I'm doing more for the Fleet with you than I could do aboard the Neema." She shook her head, following the thief to the docking bay next to the Normandy's.

"Come on, we have a shuttle to catch."

* * *

Garrus had found himself in an uncomfortable situation, one where the quarian glaring at him seemed to reign supreme over his tussling will. For once, he wasn't sure what to think.

On one hand, both Koris and Gerrel had denied his accusations when approached. The former claimed that the geth's actions three centuries ago had been perfectly justified, his carefully-chosen words only dipping into anger when he had asked how he'd ended up on a ship called the Qwib-Qwib. The latter had abruptly changed the subject, delving into a practiced rendition of how he and the elder Zorah had once saved a freighter from batarian pirates together. To the casual observer, they were perfect inflections of each other, spotless in the public eye as they represented the two radically different ends of the quarians' political spectrum.

On the other, the turian wasn't a casual observer.

With senses honed from years of interviewing suspects, he knew where to spot the tics. The way Gerrel's laugh had been just a little too high-pitched to be genuine. The way that Koris's mouth lamp had blinked on and off at one point before he had started speaking. The way Gerrel's head shifted slightly to and fro, as if searching for a way out. The way that Koris had stood more erect, as if his stance alone could intimidate the battle-hardened turian. The way that both of them suddenly shifted topics when confronted with what Raan had told him: that the trial and its outcome were just a front for their own political agendas.

There wasn't a doubt in his mind that what Shala said to him was true. Even so, he hadn't been sure if he could use it against them.

Of course, that was before he had spoken with Daro'Xen.

"Turian," the quarian had drawled as he approached, her eyes narrowing behind her dark hood with its silvery trim. "Given the circumstances, are you certain that speaking to me is appropriate?"

Her aloof manner had caught him off-guard. "I'm not sure what you mean, Admiral."

"Hardly. You've already spoken with the other three and none of them appear to be unshaken. You're testing the waters, trying to curry favor or at least find out what makes us tick in case your captain doesn't return." Her eyes became even slimmer slits of cold light. "Drop the act so we can speak on equal terms and get it over with. Your feeble attempts to maintain this facade are just insulting."

If it weren't for his helmet, Garrus's jaw would have hit the floor. _This is the same admiral who hardly said two words during the trial?_ He shook himself, recovering some of his composure as he said the first thing that came to mind.

"You didn't exactly say much before the intermission, Admiral."

The woman's eyes went from slits to ovals in what the turian was quickly learning was an eye-roll. "Simply because there was not much _to_ say. This whole trial is a waste of time," she said with a dismissive wave of her hand.

"I doubt Tali would agree," the turian replied. The quarian shook her head, her fingers touching her visor in a condescending manner that almost elicited a growl from the turian.

"Please. If she and Rael were actually conducting uncontrolled experiments on active geth subjects, then they are simply idiots. No reason to waste resources on a trial."

"And if they weren't?"

The quarian, perhaps realizing that the turian really wasn't leaving, gave an annoyed sigh. "If they weren't, then this is all just some terrible accident in the pursuit of a higher cause. Again, there's no need for a trial."

"Then why are you here?" he pressed. "Why not make a statement by not taking part in this 'waste of resources'?"

He had to actively resist the urge to use air-quotes.

Her eyes flashed with anger. "And let that aging warmongerer Gerrel and his cowardly counterpart Koris be the ones to dictate our future? I think not!"

Garrus pushed on. "Why is that?"

She paused, a cold laugh coming from her vocalizer. "Ah, so that's your game..."

_Damn it! I almost had her._ He quietly fumed as he growled out a response. "My crewmates' lives are no game, Admiral."

"Settle down," she scoffed. "I said before that we should talk as equals, and yet you persisted with your interrogator act. Your injured pride is not worth griping over." She folded her arms, taking a step back. "I'm here because the broader purpose underlying this trial is too important to ignore. Tali is only peripherally related."

"Then what is the purpose of this trial?" His subharmonics continued to rumble after he had finished speaking, frustration starting to get the better of him.

"To determine if we should fear our past mistakes and continue to wander the stars or reclaim our former glory using our natural affinity for artificial intelligence."

Garrus took a step back. "AI? You want to use more AI to retake Rannoch?" He shook his head in disbelief. "There can't be others who agree with you..."

"Sadly not, at least on the Admiralty board. Han'Gerrel only sees enemies that must be crushed, even if he has to throw every last man, woman, and child we have at the geth and hope for the best. Zaal'Koris would run away and hide on some new colony world, to continue life as pariahs at best as we slowly rot away within our suits. Shala'Raan is still undecided, but will bow to pressure the second popular opinion shifts, just like a stalk of tafaya in a windstorm. I had thought Rael was firmly in Han's camp before. But if his experiments were on active geth, then perhaps we had more in common than I'd originally thought."

_More in common..._ The gears began turning, the words a spark that kickstarted his mind. "So you support those experiments. You'd perform tests on sentients, even if they're synthetic."

"Are you serious?" she scoffed. "They're machines. The only thing that separates the geth from this starship is their autonomous programming. In the end, they're one and the same. Mere creations that are meant to bend to their masters' will."

The turian continued to connect the dots, nodding as he came to a conclusion. "So you'd create more AI? Another race to crush the geth?"

"No, my aim is far simpler and less risky than creating another software glitch." She came closer, hissing her words with pride. "I aim to return control of the geth to their rightful masters: the quarian race."

The turian shook his head with disbelief. "That's... You're insane."

"There are those who say the definition of insanity is attempting the same thing over and over and expecting different results. War with the geth has brought us nothing but ruin. Koris's path has left us to wither as the Council denied us world after world. We are dying, slowly and surely, just as the brutish and ungrateful krogan on their horrendously abused rock. My way has never been attempted before, and has a chance of restoring us to our former glory without a single drop of blood spilled. Now that you've heard that, turian, I want to know one thing. Who is really insane here?"

And there he stood, confused beyond belief. The turian's mouth opened and shut of its own accord, torn between what he knew to be right and what his mind knew to be logical. The quarian stared for a moment longer before turning away, and Garrus could almost feel the satisfaction in her voice.

"Your lack of a response tells me everything I need to know, turian."

Xen began to walk away, her swaggering gait making it evident that she considered their conversation over.

"And what if he is dead?" Garrus called. The admiral came to a halt, and he spoke again. "What happens to the quarians then?"

She appeared to give his question some thought before giving her answer. "The power balance in the Admiralty will be disrupted. Gerrel loses a vote for his foolish and self-destructive war. That would favor peace then, as Raan is too careful to risk her own neck or go against Koris's popular support from the liveships. But if the admiral replacing Rael'Zorah agrees with me..."

"What happens then?" he asked, curious despite his own trepidation toward the answer.

She gave another cold laugh before walking away. "Things become _very_ exciting."

* * *

"Hunter!"

Kasumi ducked at the sound of Shepard's voice, taking cover behind a bunk bed as Tali's combat drone zoomed by. She watched as the soldier and quarian retreated, their twin shotguns barking as they sought cover from the invisible threat.

_Time to shake things up._

She activated her tactical cloak, leaping through the bunks lined up along the wall of the sleeping quarters as she advanced between the aisles of firing geth. She was soon even with the robotic attackers, their glowing green circuits threatening to burn an afterimage into her retinas.

The thief clicked her mic twice.

"Fire in the hole!" Shepard yelled as the thief dropped a flashbang without stopping.

She got another three meters before the charge detonated, a bright flare momentarily overtaxing the machines' targeting circuits as the thief circled around behind the geth. Kasumi hit a switch on her omni-tool, diverting power away from her cloak as she snuck up on the mechs.

"Knock-knock."

She punched one of the mechs, the physically weak blow augmented by a burst of electricity from her omni-tool. The struck robot crumpled to the ground, but its allies quickly began to turn toward her as she phased out of view once more. Weapons fire filled the air as she slid under a nearby bed, unscathed. The woman deactivated her cloak as she waited, allowing her shields to recharge.

"Overloads, now!"

Kasumi pointed her omni-tool at the leg of the nearest mech, unleashing another burst of energy. The thief, evidently, hadn't been the only one, as the geth seized up and exploded, discharging even more electricity into its brethren. She hefted her locust, spraying into their downed forms with a series of short bursts.

"All clear."

The woman came out from her hiding spot, crouching over the forms of the decimated geth. She frowned, seeing things that didn't quite mesh together. "Nonuniform parts," she murmured as the others approached her. She pointed to the discrepancies as they walked up: parts without the signature white gleam of geth armor, oddly-shaped pieces with rough edges, assemblies that looked like they had been improvised from salvaged metal. "Some of them are even rusted."

"Then that officer was right," Shepard said. "Whatever geth there were have managed to build more of themselves since they attacked."

"No, none of this was right," the quarian groaned. "There shouldn't have been any here at all."

"I'm surprised they'd change up their neon though," the thief wondered aloud. "I always thought blue lights were their thing."

"Waitaminute," the resident biotic breathed. "What do you mean by that?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Didn't you see? They all were glowing green."

He and Tali exchanged looks, ones that the thief could tell contained more than a small measure of alarm.

"Keelah. You don't think..."

He nodded. "Overlord."

Kasumi was nonplussed, glancing between the two in a futile attempt to figure out what they meant.

"Was it something I said?"

* * *

**Note from the author:**  
**Originally, I was hoping to get all of the mission out in one chapter. Then I started typing out just the canon dialogue from in-mission (1-on-1 with tali, the trial, recordings, and talking with the admirals and others).**

**That alone was over 7000 words.**  
**Without the names of the people speaking.**  
**Or descriptions.**  
**Or canon changes.**  
**Or fight scenes.**  
**Yeah.**  
**Ouch.**

**So it's been split up into multiple parts.**

**Quala'Oro is an OC created by Levi Matthews for _Finding a Way_ and is used by permission. Praise to the Ancestors who have kept us alive to see this season.**

**biea = "[redacted; a quarian body part]" (Credit to Calinstel)**

* * *

A note on the quarian calendar:  
Figured humans were weird, and said the quarian calendar was counted in terms of 6-day "weeks" and the weekday instead of months and the date.

In summary:  
1 Rannoch calendar year = 29 R. weeks = 174 R. days = 0.64... Earth canendar years = 234 E. days plus change  
1 R. week = 6 R. days = 8 E. days plus change  
A day would also be "missing" out of every third year.  
(Like leap years, but taking away February 28th instead of adding February 29th, and doing it every 3 years instead of 4.)

Using this, their dates would be shown as:  
Rannoch year - week (1-29) - weekday (1-6)

Argument for: Mina'Parrit nar Tres says, "Six fingers, six days. Any year divisible by three -as many fingers as there are on one quarian hand- loses a day. Simple. Plus, the canon doesn't say how many moons Rannoch has (even though this story assumes it's only 1). If there's more than one, which do you pick? Keelah, next you'll be telling me that it makes more sense to have 24 hours in a day than 18..."

Argument opposing: Sir Timothy McProper, IV, Esq. says, "So there's about 12.4 moon cycles per year. It still makes perfect sense to base our time system on that! Just say there's 12 'moonths' and divvy up the rest willy-nilly. Oh, aliens definitely would do the same. This makes complete sense because we have 10 fingers, while they only have six. They can't count that high, so anything they'd come up with MUST be inferior to humanity's timekeeping system. Ta-hah!"

Rebuttal to argument opposing: "Bosh'tet."

Rebuttal to rebuttal: "See! They don't even use a proper lexicon! I rest my case."


	15. Calculated Risk

**A quick A/N: I could say something here, but I think you'd rather open your Christmas present.**

* * *

14: Calculated Risk

"Something's wrong."

Neik'Hazt vas Qwib-Qwib rolled her eyes as she slowly turned around. Across the room, her counterpart lingered over a console, her own head tilted in concern.

_Here we go again._ "If I had a credit for every time you said that..."

"I'm serious, Neik. These readings are too far off for this to be just a coincidence."

The elder quarian stifled a grumble as she walked over to the opposing station. _Quay'Tana... Poor dear hasn't been able to relax since Cerberus attacked her ship. I might as well humor her; maybe she'll finally start to calm down.._ She couldn't help but chuckle at the thought. Neik ignored the perceptive quarian's death-glare as she looked down at the readouts from several of the ship's security systems. "I don't see anything worthy of note, Quay."

"But the systems are slowing down. Everything's-"

"Exactly like the admiral said it would be in the memo." She straightened back up and continued speaking. "We had to take down a few firewalls so they wouldn't interfere with whatever Rael'Zorah and his team are doing."

"But the security protocols-"

"Would make everything take longer." She put a hand on the younger quarian's shoulder. "Look, we already knew their tests would interfere with the internal network. It's okay."

"But-"

"It's okay," she repeated. Neik turned around, heading back to her own station. "As long as we're within seventy percent of the baseline, we're perfectly safe."

"Fifty-three."

She came to an abrupt halt. "What did you say?"

"Levels are at fifty-three percent... and dropping."

* * *

The image of the two quarians froze, an alert stamping itself over the image.

**Error: Data corruption detected**

Tali shook her head as she worked at the console trying to find a backup copy within the ship's internal network. _Damn it. Why would Father deactivate the security protocols? It doesn't make any- Bosh'tet!_ The console shut down completely, its power supply remotely severed. The quarian furiously tapped at the device, trying to bring it back online.

"Any luck, Tali?"

She shook her head, abandoning her fruitless attempt. "No, Kasumi. Just some security footage of some people overseeing the ship's networks. If they knew what was going on, they didn't mention it before the feed was cut."

"We're not done yet, Tali," the other human replied with a gentle tone. As she turned to look at him, Shepard gestured to the doorway across the room. "We're sure to find something on the way."

"Right..." she murmured, actively resisting the urge to fiddle with her fingers. _Get a hold of yourself! You have a job to do._ She masked the gesture, checking her omni-tool instead. "The data I managed to pull says that the next room should contain a medical bay and security checkpoint."

"Sounds like an odd combo, doncha think?" the thief asked.

"They go hand-in-hand aboard the Fleet. If quarantines are broken by docked ships, anyone exposed would need immediate access to medical facilities," Tali mumbled. "The Rayya had one that we passed by on the way to the trial." The quarian lifted her shotgun, preparing for anything that could lay beyond. "Ready?"

John nodded, drawing his own short-ranged weapon. "Form up and breach. Kasumi, you cover from one of the beds and cloak." The pair took positions without another word on either side of the door as the thief shimmered out of view. The N7 soldier did a silent count, then slammed a fist into the holographic lock. As the door slid open, Tali sent her combat drone into the room beyond. Seconds passed as the droid did its sweep.

"Chiktikka says it's clear."

Tali cautiously stepped into the arey beyond, a hallway that zigzagged its way around a room with a long window and a door. She waved the others in, wary for the telltale shimmer of hidden geth hunters as her eyes passed over an open door across the hall. The quarian suppressed a shiver as her view shifted back to the other door, its interface glowing an angry red.

"Something wrong?" Shepard asked.

Apparently, it hadn't been suppressed enough. "The med bay shouldn't be locked. Maybe... there might be someone inside." She strode over to the portal, kneeling before the interface as she pulled up her omni-tool. "Give me a moment and I'll have it open."

"As long as you need. Kasumi, can you check the other room?"

The quarian had already bypassed the first firewall as the woman walked by her. A few moments later, she stood, drawing her weapon once more as she locked eyes with Shepard through the slit in his helmet. They traded a quick nod, and the human held his palm over the interface. Her heartbeat swelled in volume as her grip tightened on the gun's grip.

**Bah-DiDah...**

**Bah-DiDah...**

He keyed the hologram and they rushed into the room. She hefted the shotgun and aimed down the sight, its barrel slowly drifting across the room in the quarian's eyes.

**Bah-**

_Much too slowly._

**-Di-Dah**

She braced for the blow she knew would be coming, whether from the searing heat of a destroyer's flamethrower, or the series of rapid piercings from a trooper as it overloaded her shields.

**Bah-**

Tali breathed in as she willed herself to move faster, the gun increasing its slow march by only the smallest increment as several machines glowed at her.

**-Di-Dah**

"All clear."

**Bah-DiDah **

**Bah-DiDah**

Tali let out a breath she hadn't noticed she had been holding as she shook her head. Lit medical instruments beeped innocently on standby, their interfaces prepared for any emergency procedures and completely indifferent to the two intruders' presence.

_Keelah, I need to relax_. She allowed her weapon to drop as she inspected the room more thoroughly. _It's not as if geth would understand the concept of "surprise" any-_ The quarian's train of thought of was violently derailed as she noticed something on one of the beds in the room. Her legs began to move on their own as the object on the cot grew to take up more of her vision.

_That shouldn't be here. Is that why it was lo-_

"Tali?"

Her lips worked on autopilot as she continued to be confounded by the item's presence. "This is one of the geth storage units I sent to Father. But it had some unique modifications... Parts from a disabled repair drone, plus some reflex software I didn't recognize. It's from Haestrom."

"Waitaminute. You got it from... there?"

"From a downed hunter. Before then, we'd never seen them use cloaking technology. It was the only piece I felt I could grab quickly, and Quala and Myr'Jorin needed covering fire."

"Myr?"

"Another member of the squad... He took a direct hit from a missile before Quala and I could get to the observatory." She swallowed more than a minor amount of guilt before continuing. "But why is it here of all places? And behind a locked door?"

"So you were looking for parts of unique geth?" The quarian had a feeling more time had passed than she thought.

"Not exactly. The parts had to be in working order. Things that could be analyzed and repurposed, and anything new had priority. Father wanted pieces of tech that the geth had developed themselves... Anything that showed modifications from originals."

"But how'd it get here? We hadn't been here before now, and shipping to the Fleet isn't exactly reliable."

Tali was pulled out of her mesmerized state for a moment, temporarily more bewildered by his words than by the geth hardware as she spared John a questioning look.

"I... might have looked into it after Freedom's Progress, just out of curiosity," the human admitted sheepishly.

"Right," she replied. "I usually leave things I find in secure drops in places that are relatively friendly, or with pilgrims. Kal and Quala brought this back for me when they left the Normandy. But the fact that it's here? I just don't know-"

"I found something!"

Neither of the two was surprised as Kasumi shimmered into view on the other side of the cot, her omni-tool lit. "The checkpoint's computers were recently wiped, but I managed to salvage two things from the temporary storage. The first was a video file. I think it's from the same two officers you saw on the other security vid."

The quarian shook her head, skeptical. "I don't know if that will help for the trial, Kasumi."

"Still, the geth only cut the last computer you were on _after_ you started watching the footage. I'd say it's still worth looking into at least."

She stole a glance at Shepard, who had a pleading look in his eyes. "Alright, show us the vid," she acquiesced.

The thief hit a key on her omni-tool, and a video began to play from the wrist-mounted unit.

* * *

"-ve geth? Have you ruptured yourself?!"

Neik had to lower the volume on her auditory pickups as Quay yelled into the ship's intercom. To be fair, she was more than a little angry herself. Her mood wasn't swayed by the image of a relatively calm Paav'Olo, whose voice remained level.

_"Precautions were taken. That was part of why you two were brought onboard."_ Neik turned away, checking her own station as he continued speaking. _"We trusted you to inform us if anything was amiss."_

Multiple readouts of various types popped up on her console as Neik looked on. Meanwhile, her partner continued her angry rant. "That's a pile of hyelon and you know it! You should have informed us-"

_"It was on a need-to-know basis, Miss Tana. We couldn't risk anyone else aboard knowing-"_

"Shut up, both of you!" Neik could feel their eyes, both real and simulated, boring into the side of her realk. "Who started the system diagnostic? I'm not seeing a request from the admiral here."

Olo's image bristled. _"I didn't authorize-"_

"Keelah," Quay blurted. "How many geth are networked?"

_"All of them. Rael'Zor-"_

"Shut it down! Shut everything down!"

"What do you think I'm trying to do?" Neik retorted, her hands already in motion. "Bosh'tet... My inputs aren't responding. They're in the system!"

One of the doors opened, and an unearthly series of beeps and clicks assaulted her ears.

* * *

John grimaced as the video feed froze, partly at the sound of a geth assault rifle shot and partly for the sudden yelp just before it ended. He couldn't help but notice Tali flinch, as if the footage had struck her physically.

"The vid ends there," Kasumi declared. "Nothing's logged on why the cameras stopped."

He offered the quarian next to him a hand, resting it on her shoulder as he spoke. "What was the other thing you found?"

The thief's frown was easily visible through her own transparent mask. "It's a file that had several tags attached, likely only visible to specific officers onboard. Some of the data was corrupt, but I was able to piece together the gist of it."

Shepard nodded slightly. _And?_

"They're notes... on active geth shield systems."

The human's eyes widened. "Wait, did you just say 'active'?"

Tali, apparently, had a similar reaction. "What the hell do you mean, 'active'?!"

"They're a lot more detailed than 'shoot the glowing weak point' or something you could find out just from fighting them, Tali. See for yourself."

He watched over the quarian's shoulder as an image of a geth trooper popped up on Tali's omni-tool, with several tagged areas. She manipulated the image, zooming it in and out as copious amounts of flowing Khelish text appeared and vanished. All the while, he could feel a shiver through her shoulder, one that was steadily growing in intensity.

John gave Kasumi a pointed look. _Can you give us a minute?_

Thankfully, the thief got the hint. "I'll watch the door, make sure nothing's sneaking up on us."

Tali said nothing, her head moving slowly from side to side as the human left the room.

"Are you alright?

The quarian stepped away, starting to pace across the floor in easily visible agitation. "I... I just don't know, John. I checked everything I sent here, all of it. I passed up great finds more than once, just because there was a chance they might be too dangerous, prone to uncontrolled reactivation or self-repair. But... If Father was actually behind this... And if this actually is tied to Overlord..." She came to a halt, her helmeted head shaking once more. "I just don't know which is worse."

John stepped forward, taking hold of one of her hands. "You didn't answer my question. I asked if _you_ were okay."

She looked up at him, her eyes giving off a sad twinkle. "No, John... No, I'm not." Tali turned away from him, drawing her shotgun as she walked back toward the door.

"But right now, I have a job to do."

* * *

The animal itself was an enigma, something that he only knew about from hearsay. Apparently, humans enjoyed devouring its meat. A few even drank its milk on a daily basis (much to his disgust). It had been used for ages as a tool as well, its massive size and strength coming in handy for agricultural work when technology failed. But one thing in particular stood out about its reputation, something he had never experienced firsthand, but was almost universally agreed to be its most negative factor.

"This is all bullshit."

Garrus continued to fume as he paced ceaselessly, with Quala and Kal looking on. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the male quarian tilt his head slightly.

"He means '_hyelon_', dear."

"I see..."

The turian scoffed, noting the quarian's almost-black replacement visor. "Somehow, Kal, I doubt it. All of the admirals here are trying to push their own agendas. Gerrel and Koris are being cagey about it, but Xen at least admits it. Even Raan isn't here just for Tali's sake."

"Come on, Garrus," Quala replied. "Shala would never try to take advantage of her like that."

Kal, however, was skeptical. "Of Tali, no. But of the fact that she's here..."

_Okay, so he's sharper than I gave him credit for._ The turian nodded. "Exactly. She's hoping that something in this trial will sway public opinion one way or the other so she won't be forced to choose between siding with Gerrel or Koris on the geth issue. Xen just cares about Rael's experiments and possibly gaining more influence over the..."

Right then, he noticed a yellow-suited quarian striding with purpose toward Gerrel, with Koris in tow. Their body language spoke of an animated conversation just out of earshot, and Gerrel began to wave Raan over.

"...others. I have to go, Tovo's up to something."

* * *

"Tali, overload!"

John heard a crackle of electric energy, a flash of blue-white momentarily silhouetting the table he'd taken cover behind against the wall. He leaned around the side, unleashing a hail of SMG fire into a stunned geth. The green light from its optics died as it wilted. He ducked down again as a trio of plasma bolts flew overhead.

_Too close,_ he thought as he popped in a new heat sink. The human hadn't realized he was taking fire, let alone that his barriers had dropped to zero. _That would have been ugly._

"Nix one," Kasumi said over the radio.

"Not the one I hacked," Tali responded, firing her pistol over her own cover.

"No, it was the other hunter. It took a shot at Shep."

"It what?!" One of the synthetics took advantage of the distraction, and her shields flared from weapons fire. "Bosh'tet," she swore, ducking back down.

John stole a peek around his cover. _Just three more, but they're getting too close for comfort._ As if emphasizing his point, rifle fire pinged off of his recharged shields and he backed out of sight. "Kasumi," he called, "two seconds!" The biotic shimmered with blue energy as he counted off the time.

_One-Mississippi, two-Mississippi._

He rose from behind the table, spending half a heartbeat lining himself up for the attack. Shepard made an exaggerated bowling motion, launching a cascade of biotic explosions down his line of sight. The geth reacted with a speed that only a machine could, but even their synthetic reflexes weren't enough to save them from the Shockwave in the narrow hallway. The three troopers and Tali's hacked hunter toppled to the floor, their optics still glowing a bright green.

"Hit them now!"

Tali was already on the move before he'd finished speaking, overloading the synthetics' shields. In no time at all, Shepard's group had finished them off with a few well-placed shots.

"For the record," Kasumi declared as she uncloaked, "that wasn't much time to get out of the way."

"Sorry about that," he replied as he lowered the barrel of his gun to the floor. "I'll remember to give you more warning next time."

A grin split her face. "Don't. It keeps me on my toes. Can't let myself get sloppy now, can I?"

"That hunter didn't get you, did it?" Tali asked, concern evident in her eyes.

"Nah, it only hit the wall before Kasumi knocked it out. It didn't hurt me."

"It shouldn't have had the chance to," she muttered, walking over to a locked door off to the side. She spoke again, louder. "This storage room could have survivors in it. We need to check it out."

As John pondered what her former statement had meant, the thief stepped forward. "How do you know that it's a storeroom?"

"The sign," she responded, pointing at a line of flowing script just to the side of the interface she was hacking.

"I'll have to learn to read that sometime," John muttered absently with a glance at the Khelish text as Kasumi facepalmed.

"It won't help you if you don't know the language, John." The door began sliding open, her hack complete. "But I could teach you... a few... Keelah..."

The room, if it could be called that, was beyond messy. Bodies, or at least fragments, lingered around the edges of the room amidst piles of collapsed crates and shelves. The center of the room was eerily vacant, a large black mark on the floor. At least one of the corpses was whole, its lithe, if broken, frame speaking volumes of years yet to be lived.

_Not even the children escaped._

"What the heck happened here?" Kasumi wondered aloud as John semiconsciously suppressed an urge to vomit in his helmet.

An orange flicker caught his eye. He turned to his left, seeing the flash again over what appeared to be a mangled arm.

"Omni-tool," he coughed, forcing the child's body out of his mind.

"Right..." Tali murmured, drifting toward the limb. She consulted her own omni-tool for a moment.

"There's a video on here, timestamped a few hours ago."

* * *

"Lock that door!"

Neik'Hazt nearly toppled as she hobbled along the wall, one hand on her pistol and the other clinging to a rail on its surface for dear life. She found a free spot as one of her companions sealed the portal, setting herself down gingerly to avoid agitating her wounded leg.

"The geth have taken over almost the entire ship," one of the four said, his assault rifle held in a manner that screamed of inexperience as he stepped closer. She lowered her gaze as he continued. "What should we do, Lieutenant Olo?"

Neik resisted the urge to look up, knowing that the named scientist would be looking at her for answers. _Figures. I'm the lowest-ranked, but they're deferring to me. The one time Quay was right..._

Of course, her partner was in no condition to chip in; she had been taken out of the fight before it had even started, shot by several geth when the synthetics broke into their station. _Poor girl never had a chance... And I'm lucky I didn't die right then, too._

"We hole up in a side room," she forcibly replied, "and pray that the Ancestors are generous."

"You heard her, Nos. Help Neik into this storage room. Mala, get this damn door open!"

Neik grimaced as the man helped carry her across the threshold. She risked a glance at her leg, a decision immediately regretted. In the initial attack, a single shot had pierced her suit just below the knee as she retreated from Quay'Tana's dead body. The quarian had patched and sealed the wound earlier, but she had been ambushed by a hunter in the previous room. The invisible foe had slammed her to the floor before she disabled it with an overload. In the process, the weakened bone had broken, deforming the suit around the wound enough that her patches simply weren't able to hold together. Skin that should have been a soft lavender was visible, with a disturbing amount of purple and black complimenting the red stream leaking from the hole. Already, she could feel the effects of the exposure sinking in, her skull oscillating between a throbbing pain and extreme lightheadedness as a nasty itch raced along what parts of the limb weren't screaming at her already. The inflamed area around the wound was starting to swell, taxing her hurried suit repair even more.

What little antibiotics her suit had contained wouldn't last for much longer.

"Just set me down here, Nos."

Thanks to the very real possibility of disaster aboard any one of the quarian ships, there had been protocols to follow in this sort of situation. Her last few hours had been anything but a waste.

Neik opened her omni-tool, setting it to record one last log as Nos stepped away.

"This is Officer Neik'Hazt vas Qwib-Qwib, log 3501, timestamp 2938-18-3-1523. Progress report on emergency action aboard the Alarei follows."

She looked around at the others in the room. Nos was kneeling next to a small child, whose suit still hung loose, despite the many belts and ties on it. "Wait, where's Mom?" the youth whimpered.

"We locked down navigation and took the weapons systems offline. As a precaution, we managed to disable communications as well. Their mistake-" She shot an accusatory glare at Olo, who was staring absently at the floor. "-won't endanger the Fleet. A list of confirmed casualties follows. From security: Froc'Dama, Wel'Taris, Thiel'Vadam and..." _Damn it. Stay strong!_ "Quay'Tana. From engineering: all hands lost. From navigation: all hands lost."

The hologram at the door flickered green for a moment. Mala rushed over, her omni-tool lit as she locked the door once more and rescrambled the combination.

"From maintenance: Grol'Tennera, Ela'Zenoh, and Jeen'Kaldt. From research-"

She was cut off as the girl began to wail. "No... That can't have... She's not-" Thankfully, Nos managed to hush her enough for Neik to continue.

"All hands, except Mala'Reet and Paav'Olo are unaccounted-for. Status of all other departments and Admiral Rael'Zorah remain unknown."

Mala squealed with shock, leaping back as sparks began to fly from the door.

_So this is it._

Fear began to take hold of her as the girl began to scream. Neik tried to stand, her grip on the pistol tightening in a trained reflex. She sprawled, her broken leg refusing to support her. Paav and Nos hurried over, helping her back into a sitting position.

"Damn it, they're burning through the door. We don't have much time."

"What do we do?" Nos asked, his eyes wider than the two blue giants the Fleet had been orbiting.

Paav hung his head in silence. Jeen's daughter continued to weep from a corner, and Mala looked close to hysterics herself. Neik's gaze drifted back to the young girl, and she was unable to hold back a flood of tears.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry..." She looked back at her omni-tool, which was still recording. "Jona, if you get this, be strong for Daddy. I don't care what the others in your class say, I never did. Don't you ever give up on your art. I've always been so proud of you."

The sparks vanished, and the door began to slide open. Assault rifle fire poured through before it was fully open, and Mala fell with a yell. Neik gasped as one of the quarian's killers drew a rocket launcher, evidence of recent repair evident from fresh welds that still glowed orange.

"Mommy loves you ver-! "

* * *

_I won't let that happen to you, Father._

Tali said nothing as she stormed out of the room, racing up the stairs to the next area. She had already drawn her shotgun and was nearly to the next room before Kasumi started speaking.

"Wait! Where are you going?"

She didn't answer, opening her omni-tool and activating her combat drone. She barely noted the word "Commons" written by the door in her native script before slamming the hologram.

As the door slid open, she heard a buzzing sound and saw a green glow through the door. The quarian poked her shotgun through the widening gap, getting off a shot and following up with a kick to the waiting trooper on the other side of the portal. As she and Chiktikka charged into the room, she launched a hacking script at a geth destroyer, the first and largest target she could see.

Then all hell broke loose.

Tali executed the geth she'd kicked with a second shotgun blast as she slid into cover behind a countertop. Several dozen rounds flew by overhead, nearly drowning out the sound of pounding footsteps from the way she had entered the room.

_I won't let you bosh'tets near them. Not anymore._

She popped up, scoring a shot on a hunter that had been closing the distance. The cloaked geth fizzed into view as Tali ignored a pair of troopers who hadn't reloaded yet. Her shields were nearly drained when she fired again, silencing the shotgun-wielding foe. As four others finished reloading their rifles, the destroyer she'd hacked exploded in a blast of flame. The troopers who had been firing on it began to turn in her direction, but she'd already launched another hacking routine and retaken her cover.

_Not this crew..._

Tali launched another holo-drone, this time with an explosive attack protocol. It took all of two seconds before a blast was heard from somewhere over her cover. She stood up, and fired at one of the synthetics that hadn't been knocked over.

_Not my father..._

She managed to take out two with one pull of the trigger, one of the three plasma balls landing on the geth beside her intended target. The quarian shot once more at a second destroyer before swapping the overheated weapon for her pistol. She willed her breathing to slow, trying to fix the crosshairs on the fuel tank just barely visible over its shoulder.

_And damn well not-_

The destroyer vanished in a flash of blue-white light, supplanted by a human in gunmetal grey armor. He hefted his own shotgun, firing at a geth not three meters away from Tali.

The quarian blinked in surprise. _-John?_

Her moment of distraction didn't last, as she trained her weapon on another trooper instead. The geth dropped, a victim of a pair of clean shots to the motor control servos hidden deep in its torso. She heard a wordless whisper, the kind carried along by wind along water.

**Bah-**

Only there was no wind.

**-Di-Dah**

And it came from right behind her.

**Bah-**

She turned her head, seeing a curved black silhouette.

**-Di-Dah**

Tali lifted her left leg as she turned, drawing her knife.

**Bah-**

Her foot planted as she spun around, the blade shining as she raised it in the air.

**-Di-Dah**

The geth's arm moved faster than she could track, arresting her knife-wielding arm with a vise-like grip so suddenly that she almost fell off balance.

**Bah-**

Her eyes widened as the black mech's green-lit optics swept over her. It adjusted its shotgun, now in its left hand.

**-Di-Dah**

Tali kicked out at it with her foot, but the hunter didn't budge from the blow. The shotgun's barrel then pressed into her chest.

**Bah-**

It depressed the weapon's trigger, and she could feel the heat radiating from the gun as the plasma charged up.

**-Di-**

_Ancestors forgive me._

**-Dah**

The synthetic stumbled, sparking from a sudden blow. Its plasma shotgun discharged, and she could feel the heat as the shot traveled past her arm and into a wall.

"Hey, copycat!"

**Bah-**

Kasumi shimmered into view, delivering another electrified punch to the geth. Its grip weakened, and Tali's arm came free.

**-Di-Dah**

The quarian seized the opportunity, pouncing on the stunned synthetic. She sliced across its neck, severing several important-looking tubes. It crumpled in a spray of white and black hydraulic and lubricating fluids.

**Bah-DiDah**

**Bah-DiDah**

Tali fired her pistol at the geth until its heat sink was full. By that time, the green glow had long-since faded from the black mech. She sat back against her cover, breathing heavily as she reloaded both her weapons. By the time she was finished, Kasumi had already vanished once more.

_Keelah, that was stupid._

She launched another combat drone to assist in the fight, taking another deep breath to calm her nerves. The woman peeked over her cover, counting the remaining hostiles as John and Kasumi continued to fight the geth.

_Four left, including a destroyer_.

Tali aimed her shotgun at the larger geth, its yellow armor momentarily appearing green as its shields flared blue from her attack. She followed up with an overload, destroying its defenses outright.

_Hold on..._

Kasumi followed up with an overload of her own, and the geth's fuel tank detonated from the burst of unabated energy. Two of the other geth were caught in the blast, their bodies slamming against a wall from the sudden force. She ducked back down, staring at the fallen hunter.

The fallen _black_ hunter.

_The platform colors, they're not the same as-_

"All clear!"

She shook her head, pushing the thought from her mind as she approached Shepard. It wasn't long before Kasumi appeared at her side, arms crossed and her brow furrowed in a look she'd never seen on the human woman: genuine anger.

"Tali, what the heck were you thinking? You had me worried sick when you took off like that. Shep here nearly had a heart attack when he heard the gunfire! And that's without mentioning the hunter back-"

John silenced her with a look, then stepped forward. His voice was calm, but she could pick up more than a little concern from his tone. "Tali, what happened?"

She hung her head in shame. "After seeing that recording, I was worried about Father. I... We've been fighting through these geth for so long... And the time that's passed since they heard..." She felt a hand on her shoulder. The woman took a deep breath, holding back the tears that had snuck into the corners of her eyes. "I don't want to find a message like that from him, and we don't have much time left."

"Then we should keep moving. Kasumi, take point. Cloaked unless I say not to."

"Roger, Shep." The thief spared Tali one last look before vanishing, but she could tell it lacked most of her previous anger. A door at the opposite end of the room opened and shut, seemingly of its own accord.

John grasped her hand. "We'll find him, Tali. If not for yourself, then at least believe that for me."

She met the blues of his eyes and blinked. "Okay. I'm ready to go."

"_I found a console that looks pretty important. Do you want me to hack it?_"

"Negative," Shepard replied, raising a hand to the side of his helmet. "Keep your cover. Tali can hack it."

The quarian nodded, and the two of them walked into the next room. Sure enough, a blue-lit interface sat on a wall, ready for input. She spent a few seconds cutting through security before a wall of text sprang up on the screen.

"What's it say?" Shepard asked, curious.

"Most of the data is corrupted, but from what I can see here..." She took a moment to scan through the document, then looked over a few more. "It looks like they were experimenting on geth systems, looking for new ways to overcome their resistance to reprogramming." Another document opened up, and she frowned. "But there's a marked change. At some point, they began to focus on more detailed experiments... Like if they found a way for it to work... Or if someone gave it to them."

"_Like someone from Cerberus?_" Kasumi asked over the radio. "_Maybe it could clear your name._"

"Doubtful," Tali responded. "This is mostly results data, effects of hacking techniques. Without context, I can't understand all of it, but... If Overlord really is tied into this, or if they were reactivating the geth on purpose... Then they did something terrible."

_She watches the screen as the geth fires the rocket at Neik and her companions. The little girl screams as Neik tries to say a rushed farewell, and the line cuts to static._

Tali slammed a hand on the interface, closing the terminal. "What was this supposed to accomplish, Father? You promised me a house on the homeworld, not a ship full of rampant geth."

"It isn't right," John agreed. "They shouldn't have been testing on sentients."

There were few things that the two of them couldn't talk about freely. Talking about the geth as if they were alive was one of the few things that was taboo.

_And for good reason._

"They're not prisoners, _Shepard_," she growled, rounding on him. "I only gave Father parts. If he assembled them, they would have made machines. Cold. Unfeeling. Machines."

"But Tali-"

"You saw what the geth did to Eden Prime, what Sovereign did to the Citadel. They're soulless killing machines, and any research that gives us an advantage is important."

"What about Tuchanka?" he barked back. "What happened to 'Why didn't they sterilize us too when they could have?'"

"Because they'd already killed us!" she almost roared. "My people barely exist because of what they did to us, what they keep doing to us."

"Then maybe you should give up on taking back Rannoch!"

Tali glared at him, her silence speaking volumes as she suppressed the urge to strike him. She turned away from the temptation, shaking her head.

"You have no idea what it's like. You have a homeworld to go back to, and several colonies to call your own. If a human ship is destroyed, it's just some statistic for the news holos to bring up on a slow day. If it's one of ours, that's an entire nation of people wiped out. If the Rayya, or either of the other liveships was destroyed, our people might go extinct."

The human didn't speak for several seconds, and when he did, it was much softer. "But you still have a place here, Tali," he replied, placing a hand on her shoulder. "You shouldn't throw it all away in a war you don't need."

She shrugged his hand off. "Don't need? John, if I don't wear my suit and a turian walks into the room after saying 'Hello' to someone with the sniffles, I _die_. If I took off my mask and kissed you, I could end up in a hospital. Every time you touch a flower with bare fingers, inhale its fragrance without a dozen air filters, take a bite from food someone else has touched, feel a breeze outside on a beautiful day, or whisper into someone's ear without your voice being distorted almost beyond recognition, you're doing something I can't!"

Though she wasn't looking, Tali knew that John's eyes widened considerably at her words. "You feel that strongly about all that?"

_Keelah, do I_, she thought as she nodded slowly. Strong arms embraced her from behind, and she gave in to the urge to fiddle with the human's numerous fingers as she sighed. "Damn the Pilgrimage," she muttered. "Without it, I might never have known what we were missing. What we lost when we left Rannoch."

"What if you found a new world?" John asked, his helmet nuzzling against the side of hers.

"We'd have enough trouble readjusting to our native environment; a foreign colony would be even harder. It's the difference between 60 years in these... _things_... and 600. For anyone alive today to see a sunset, we _need_ to get our home back." She patted his arm and drew away, sniffing slightly as she blinked to clear the tears from her eyes. "At the very least, we can take back this ship. Let's go."

* * *

"We need to face facts, Raan. There has been no word. There is no reason to think they could have survived."

"But we must trust Shepard's offer of assistance! It has only been a couple of hours."

"I hate to say this, Shala, but my marines lasted less than five minutes. If they haven't said anything by now, we have no choice but to-"

"Keep waiting like civilized people should." Garrus didn't shy away as the three admirals plus Tovo gave him pointed looks, some warmer than others. "Two of the three people on that ship were on the squad that assaulted Ilos and made the difference in the Battle of the Citadel, and you're looking at the third. We took on a company of geth, including a dropship, and _won_. And that was before Shepard gained the biotic abilities that helped punch through a platoon of geth and a colossus on Haestrom without vehicle support. Neither of those fights were won in just a few minutes."

By then, Daro'Xen had joined in the group, lingering over the argument like a ravenous hunter in the corner of Garrus's vision. She seemed content to watch for the time being, allowing Tovo to speak.

"Two suicidal missions do not make for an invincible team. I'm sure Admiral Gerrel would agree with me on that. Besides, we're wasting time and resources here arguing over it. Every minute we wait is a minute that the staff on this liveship spends gossipping instead of producing a third of the fleet's food."

Han turned away sheepishly as Koris delivered a triumphant nod. "We can't wait forever, turian. We have limits to how long we can afford to wait."

"And what of Rael's experiments?" Xen asked, breaking her silence. "He's spent years working on his projects, any one of which could be a boon to our species. The data is too valuable at this point."

"A terrible loss," Tovo responded, "but not as terrible as allowing this geth threat to continue." He traded a look with Koris, who nodded.

"Agreed. I'm calling for an immediate continuation of the trial, with a vote in favor."

"Opposed," Xen stated simply.

Garrus looked at Raan as Gerrel stood in silence, seemingly wracked with indecision. "Aren't you going to oppose it?"

She shook her helmet. "I've recused myself from the trial. I have no say in this."

He sent a last pleading look to Han as the quarian came to a decision.

"Sorry, Vakarian, but we've waited long enough."

* * *

_Keelah, that was a lot of geth_.

Tali peeked over the railing she'd slid up against, marveling at the massive pile of synthetics strewn about the lower landing of a staircase below her. She didn't dare take her eyes off of the pile as Kasumi reconvened with them. Ideally, she'd have borrowed John's revenant and misted the pile with gunfire until she ran out of clips_, even if it is a bit wasteful_. There were, however, two problems with that plan.

One, they'd left the massive rifle aboard the Normandy.

Two, they had burned through so many heat sinks fighting them that even Tali, with her many pockets, doubted she could fire enough times to turn them into a proper mulch of scrap metal with what sinks she had left.

And so, she followed the two humans down the stairs. As they waded through the pile of broken armor, dim circuitry, and salvaged limb substitutes, the quarian shivered from the contact of so many synthetics. Her eyes traveled wildly around, not daring to close as she prayed to the Ancestors that none of their hands would reach out and clamp onto her or her companions.

_It's for Father. It's for Father. It's for-_

"Tali?"

The quarian tore her eyes away from the machines touching her boots. John was waiting by the door the flood of geth had poured in from, its interface red. Kasumi, meanwhile, was fiddling with a terminal off to the side. Tali nodded and started hacking the door. Her fingers danced over the interface as a voice played from Kasumi's console.

"_Experiment log of Mala'Reet vas Anin, first entry. Our initial hacking attempts failed. The geth have an adaptive consciousness; hack one process, and the others auto-correct. Still, we're making progress. The admiral is convinced we'll have a viable system in less than a year. This weapon will put our people back on the homeworld, and it's all because of Rael'Zorah._"

Her hands froze. "Did she say... what I think she said?"

She stole a glance at Kasumi, who was scrolling through options on the computer. The human selected one, and the voice played again.

"_Experiment log of Mala'Reet vas Anin, sixty-third entry. Progress is still stalled, but I got what might prove to be a breakthrough earlier today. I still don't trust Yan's excuse for where he got the code, let alone the fact that I haven't told him what we were doing here, but the program he sent me, it's... astoundingly sound for something from a Conclave member. He was adamant that I bring it to the admiral's attention. I'll see if I can bring it up gently sometime today during trials. Maybe... My bondmate may have saved our project._"

Tali shook her head as she hacked, distracted. _She's lying! Father would never do something so dangerous. He wouldn't allow his people to die over something like this. He'd never let things get that bad-_

The door opened.

In the room beyond, she could see a quarian in a familiar pink suit. The man was laying down on his back, a mirror-smooth pool surrounding him.

The figure wasn't moving.

"**FATHER!**"

Tali sprinted past a momentarily bewildered Shepard, already reaching for medigel and a suit patch as she stepped into the red puddle. She applied the salve with a practiced hand, quickly bandaging and covering several wounds in the man's leg and torso. She brought up her omni-tool to confirm that he was stable.

Rael's suit said that he had flatlined.

"No," she mouthed in disbelief. "No, no, no. You always had a plan. Masked life signs..."

She checked the medical readout once more. His body had already fallen to room temperature.

Still, she shook her head with a sniff. "Or, or an onboard medical stasis program, maybe."

Tali knew that no such program had ever existed.

"You," she huffed, her vision clouding slightly as she tried to blink away whatever was in her eyes. "You wouldn't..."

"Hey..."

She pursed her lips for a moment, her eyes shutting as the facts all bore down on her at once.

The amount of time that had passed since the loss of contact.

The pool of blood that she was now kneeling in.

The state that the crew and the geth had been in when they arrived.

The bullet hole in the man's visor.

The multiple logs that all seemed to point toward one thing.

"They're wrong!" she burst out. "You wouldn't just die like this! You wouldn't leave me to clean up your-"

"Hey." She felt a hand take hers, leading her upward and turning her away from the body. "Come here."

She fell on the armored bastion, sobs coming unabated to her as he wrapped his arms around her. He quietly hummed something as she openly wept on his shoulder. "Damn it! Da-hamn it!"

"Hush, sis," someone replied, a second set of arms wrapping around them. "We're here for you."

They stayed with her as she cried, precious minutes ticking by as they comforted her. Finally, she found the strength to step back."I'm sorry," she muttered, still sniffling slightly.

"You have nothing to be sorry about," John replied.

Still, she couldn't help but feel guilty, unsure whether it was one of her deliveries, her father's tests, or possibly the program Mala's recording had mentioned that had been the catalyst for this disaster. Tali would have liked to ask her father, but he was in no shape to say anything. _Still, Neik had left a message for her child..._

"Maybe..." Tali whispered. "He would have known I'd come. Maybe Father left a message."

"Sounds like as good a lead as any," Kasumi murmured absently as John nodded to her.

_You can do this._

The quarian knelt down next to the body, opening the man's omni-tool. Sure enough, it was actively recording everything around it. She stopped the program, and opened the newly-created vid file.

* * *

"Tali-ah!"

Rael'Zorah leaned on a wall as he tried to catch his breath, his lungs on fire. He held his omni-tool out, ready to fire an overload on a moment's notice as his radio recorded his lack of speech. He tried to think of something to say to his daughter, but the words just wouldn't come. He tried to remember her face, or anything that could help loosen his tongue, but his mind only pictured her realk's former owner.

He shook his head, abandoning the pursuit."Tali, if you are listening, then I am dead." He gulped, his heart still racing from his failed attempt to take down the source of his troubles. "The geth have gone active- I don't have much time. I had slaved their runtimes to a server in the main lab. The hub is inside. It must be destro-"

He coughed, all too aware of the burning in his chest, where a lucky round had pierced his suit. The wound itself wasn't life-threatening, but the wound was quickly becoming contaminated.

_I never should have trusted Mala's code. I should have known as soon as Olo mentioned the false sender tag. Hell, even the Mor-_

He coughed again, and a metallic taste filled his mouth. Rael began speaking aloud once more. "I've been locked out of the control console by whatever took over the geth. It must be destroyed to stop them from forming new neural links. Make sure Han'Gerrel sees the data. You must-"

He fell forward, his body full of a cold numbness. A puddle -_Why is it red?_- began spreading around him as his breath hitched in his chest. He rolled over and saw a single geth. It stepped forward, mysteriously silent as an eerie green glow wreathed it.

The quarian's mind went blank as the synthetic pointed its rifle at Rael's face.

"Laenya, I've always loved you."

The weapon's barrel flashed angrily.

* * *

"Thanks, Dad."

John bristled at the bitter edge in Tali's voice. The quarian shook her head in disbelief as he kneeled down next to her.

"He knew you'd come, Tali. He wanted to help you." Shepard heard a huff and sniffle as he took a breath. "It may not be perfect, but it's the best he could do."

Tali continued to hang her head. "I don't know what's worse: thinking he never really cared, or thinking that he did, and that this was the only way he could show it." She stood up, and he heard her take a deep breath. She looked at him, and spoke with determination. "It doesn't matter. One way or the other, _I_ cared. And _I'm_ here." She turned toward the door ahead of them, and walked away to hack it open. "And _we're_ ending this."

"You think she'll be okay?" Kasumi whispered to him as Tali moved off.

"I think she has it under control for now," he responded, just as quietly. "After the mission's over, though..."

The other human nodded. "Right. By the way, Shep, did you really believe what you told her just now?"

He stole a glance at Tali, who showed no sign that she'd heard any of their conversation. "Honestly, no," he muttered, as quietly as he could. "Everything about that message was fucked up."

Together, the two humans walked over to the quarian, arriving just as she unlocked the door. A purple combat drone materialized next to her, its surface shimmering brightly in the dim light.

"Now?" the quarian asked, readying her shotgun.

John readied his own weapon. "Now."

With that, Kasumi slapped the interface and vanished. Tali and John burst into the room together after Chiktikka, but stopped short as the drone continued forward.

"What the hell is that?"

A large pane of glass divided the room, forcing Tali's program to fly around it. On the other side stood a towering red geth prime. It stood in front of a console, doing who-knew-what in the middle of a group of columns. Several pieces appeared to have been taken from other geth, patches of white and blue visible on mismatched armor plates scattered over its form. As it turned toward the already attacking drone, John could see evidence of pieces that appeared salvaged from the ship itself, patches of brownish rust visible just behind its defenses. It shrugged off the blow as the drone exploded, drawing a large, yet familiar-looking weapon.

_Wait. Aren't primes supposed to be-_

"JOHN!"

The human was tackled to the ground just as the glass wall shattered. Shards of the window as large as his forearm crashed to the ground, offsetting the sound of the geth's machine gun fire into the air where he and Tali had been standing.

"John, are you alright?"

He locked eyes with the quarian, who was laying on top of him. Luckily, his shields had held through the attack.

"I'm fine, Tali. Thanks." He glanced at her arm, jumping slightly at the sight of a narrow strip of bluish skin, which had a razor-thin reddish burn mark. His eyes widened with alarm as a faint wisp of smoke drifted from the suit. "Tali, you're hurt!"

The quarian glanced at her wound, hissing slightly at the sight. "I can't fix it up now, not until that prime stops shooting at us."

"But your-!"

"John!" He fell silent. "It only glanced over my skin. The heat cauterized the wound and my internal suit seals already clamped down. I'll. Be. Okay."

The human gave her a look that told her, in no uncertain terms, that she was going to a med bay as soon as the trial was over. The two of them then stood, staying close to the nearest column as the geth's revenant chipped away at its edges. He keyed his radio. "Can we get a dis-"

Before he'd finished the request, he heard the unmistakable crackle of an overload hitting the geth's shields.

"-traction?" The gunfire immediately stopped, and he heard the sound of heavy footfalls as the synthetic searched for Kasumi. The two of them took advantage of the distraction, running in opposite directions to separate columns. The mech sparked from another overload as the human fired his shotgun as quickly as its charge mechanism would cycle. The air around it still shimmered blue as he reached the column, the geth's gunshots not far behind. He reloaded as chips of his cover flaked off from the fusillade, getting ready to throw a Warp.

Of course, he hadn't counted on the thing's fist flying toward his face.

He leapt back with a curse as the geth wrapped its unburdened arm around the beam, narrowly missing him in the process. With an almighty yank, the reinforced structure was yanked from its mooring. All of a sudden, John found himself staring down the barrel of a gun. Within a blink of an eye, his shields had been almost completely destroyed by its fire. At that point, he did the only logical thing that came to mind.

He Charged right into it.

The Frankenstein's monster of a geth prime budged only slightly, its powerful legs absorbing the blow. John leveled his shotgun at the mech, but it recovered faster than he'd expected. It lashed out with an elbow, slamming into the weapon with enough force to break an unaugmented human's arm. The human was dismayed as his gun was severely dented. Another burst of sparks showered the synthetic, and the blue aura surrounding it finally faded. The mech, evidently, decided that it would be better to finish him off first.

_Oh, crap._

The prime raised its gun arm high in the air, preparing to slam it down on the man's head. He reacted, holding his hands overhead and trying to perform a biotic technique Jacob had showed him once. A pale blue orb appeared around him, its surface wavering even before the blow hit it.

_How the hell do people keep these things solid?!_

The biotic bubble succeeded only in slowing down the arm, shattering from the applied force. The geth's arm slammed into the human's waiting hands, and he was forced to his knees by the pressure. The bubble, however, had done its job. _At least I wasn't turned into paste._

The prime increased its pressure, and the human's muscles screamed in protest.

_Yet._

Gunshots continued to ping off the mech's back with little effect. John tried to pull his right arm back to perform a biotic attack, but the massive weight of the mech didn't allow him to do so. It was taking all his strength just to keep from being crushed. And even then, he was only delaying the inevitable.

"Not my captain, you bosh'tet!"

An electronic screech filled the air. The crushing load from the geth suddenly became much more bearable as the geth's head swiveled toward its legs. John followed its line of sight, catching a glimpse of Tali just before she sliced a group of hydraulic cables on its other leg with her knife. As the geth's strength slowly bled away with the white fluid, Kasumi materialized next to it, her omni-tool hand crackling with electrical energy.

John rolled as the thief's blow landed, allowing the geth to crash into the ground with a mighty thud. He was on it in a heartbeat, finally able to unleash his mustered biotic energy in a punch directly to the green-lit titan's head.

It did not survive.

He nearly collapsed afterward, his body lethargic from the recent exertion. Tali bent down next to him, placing a hand on his back.

"Don't worry," he panted. "Just need... to catch a breather... Go... Take care... of the console."

The quarian stepped away, standing at the interface for several minutes as the human caught his breath. He eventually regained enough of his strength to stand, moving with Kasumi to Tali's side.

"Anything interesting?" the thief asked for him.

"I deactivated the program that had activated the geth. It should have shut down any that we missed. That prime was going through the logs, trying to delete everything. I've done what I can, but I can only find one vid file that wasn't effected by the purge. It... should tell us how all this happened... what Father did."

"You sound like you really don't want to hear it," John observed, earning a huff and a shake of the quarian's head.

"No. I know we have to, but I just... I don't want to know that he was part of this."

"You don't have to watch, you know," he told her. "I can present the evidence."

"I can't just ignore it, John. A part of me just... has to know. For Father's sake." She touched an icon, and a video popped up. A familiar pink-suited quarian was standing next to a window. The room on the other side was darkened, but John could make out a table with a figure on it.

_What am I looking at?_ Just then, the quarian in the holo spoke.

_"Run test 435-B."_

_"Running 435-B. Activating geth platform in three... two... one... now."_

Tali gasped.

* * *

"This hearing has been called back into order. Blessed are the ancestors who've kept us alive, and allowed us to see this season. Keelah se'lai."

"Keelah se'lai."

"On behalf of the accused, Tali'Zorah vas Normandy, Gunnery Officer Vakarian vas Normandy has volunteered to speak in her defense. The judges recognize his merit aboard the Normandy, and his status as acting captain in the absence of Captain Shepard vas Normandy."

A murmur went through the crowd at the admiral's words, and the turian at the center of the plaza felt dozens of eyes on him. Garrus stood straighter as Shala'Raan addressed him directly. "Officer Vakarian, do you have anything to say in defense of your crewman?"

_Gotta do this just right._

Garrus stepped forward, around the platform that Shepard and Tali had stood at not too long ago. He cleared his throat, preparing to deliver one of the most important statements of his life to date. He met the eyes of each of the admirals in turn, making sure to allow them enough time to notice that he was staring directly at them through his helmet before moving on to the next. He opened his mouth.

"I'm leaving."

He immediately turned around, walking back to the stairs out of the plaza without a single glance at any of the stunned quarians. The spell was broken as he began to ascend the steps, moving past the first rows of onlookers.

"What?!"

"Did he just-"

"This is a formal proceeding!"

_Hook, twine, and... How does that human saying go, again?_

Garrus turned around, making sure to assume an agitated pose. "Has anything about this hearing truly been 'formal', Koris? Tali didn't even get the standard two day waiting period to arrive. This trial started without her before that time had even expired. Spirits, if we hadn't been heading toward Omega when she got the message, you would have exiled her without giving an opportunity to defend herself!"

"She was given ample time, considering the emergency circumstances," Tovo said, stepping forward. "Everyone here knows the danger that the geth-held vessel amidst our fleet poses. The ship should have been destroyed as soon as it became a threat."

"Really?" the turian asked, no longer needing to fake his annoyance. "And you would convict her without completing a full investigation?"

"Now see here-!" Koris started, but Garrus cut him off.

"We on the Normandy are more than crewmates, admirals. We fight together, live together, and die together. When our scientist was concerned about whether or not his student had been kidnapped, Tali volunteered to help, despite having fought a thresher maw on foot mere minutes before. When a Cerberus experiment gone awry threatened to create a technological apocalypse, Tali was there, fighting the good fight with our squad. When I lost sight of my objective on a mission to find a long-lost friend of mine, Tali did her best to set me straight. When a Reaper attacked the Citadel, pushing us all to the edge of utter destruction, Tali was with us on the ground." He paused, allowing his words to sink in for a moment. "Kasumi mentioned a word in your tongue, 'hesh'nealan'. We've all fought for one another at some point during our travels on the Normandy, and I'll be damned if we're going to take your word for it that she's dead just because of a little radio silence. Shepard's crew -_my_ crew- will go to hell and back for one another. If that doesn't make us hesh'nealans -or hesh'nealani, or whatever the word is- I don't know what does."

Koris leaned back at his words, and Tovo's glowing eyes narrowed. "I fail to see the relevance of your statement," the prosecutor declared.

Garrus snorted, laughing heartily as Koris twitched in surprise.

"The point, admirals, is I actually give a damn. You three, on the other hand," he added, pointing at the judging admirals, "only care about the geth!"

"This is outrageous!" Gerrel declared, a furor sweeping the room. Koris, for once, appeared to be in agreement with him.

"This trial has nothing to do with the geth," he denied.

"Bullshit!" Garrus yelled, slamming his fist on the console in the center of the room. "You just want to make an example of her, as a warning against further aggression against the geth. Gerrel here wants to prop her up, to give hope for war against the machines. Xen just wants to find out about Rael's experiments. None of you idiots care about her! Tali is one of the only reasons you three are still able to-"

"**OBJECTION!**"

The whole room fell silent, and Garrus's mind blanked for a moment.

"His statements about the admirals needing to care about Tali is irrelevant. If they did, then they would have to recuse themselves from the trial, in order to maintain an impartial judgment."

Garrus's mandibles went slack inside his helmet as the three judges traded nervous glances. He could almost feel the smug radiating from Tovo as the yellow-suited quarian waited for Raan's word on his interruption.

The elder admiral hung her head. "Objection... sustained."

The turian performed a mental hiccup, trying to regain his train of thought. "Fine... But Tali's character-"

"Is pristine, yes, but it alone does not prove her innocence." Tovo interjected.

_Damn it! Think fast..._ "And what about the trial itself? You've been presenting it as if Tali needs to prove herself innocent. Shouldn't the burden of proof be on the prosecution to prove her guilty?"

"A valid point," the prosecutor conceded, "except that it's because of the solid evidence against her that's already been presented that she's in this situation in the first place. She collected geth parts for Rael's experiments on the Alarei. No matter what, that alone makes her a willing sponsor, a responsible party."

"But, if she was ordered-"

"Even if Rael used his authority as an admiral, a quarian's first thought should be to the safety and security of the Fleet. Any rational citizen should have declined, then reported Rael's behavior to the Conclave. Experiments in the midst of our home should not be tolerated."

The turian mentally backpedaled, searching for a lifeline as momentum bled from his side of the case. "But she never confessed to the crime. Tali said she was careful."

"And I've no doubt she was capable of doing so. But nobody is immune to mistakes, Tali admitted as much in her earlier testimony." Tovo turned away from Garrus, addressing the admirals directly. "The facts point to one of two things. Either she sent back something that spontaneously reactivated, allowing the geth parts to kill the crew of the Alarei and produce more of themselves-"

"Which is ludicrous!" Garrus interrupted, but Tovo paid him no mind.

"-Or Tali enabled Rael to perform illegal experiments on the Alarei, one of which went tragically awry and led to this situation we are now in."

Vakarian's mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out.

"In that case, Tali would be guilty of aiding and abetting the largest war criminal our people have ever had the misfortune to know. More than enough to warrant exile. The prosecution rests."

All eyes went back to Garrus, who still stood stock-still.

_What the hell just happened?_

Raan cleared her throat. "Vakarian vas Normandy, do you have anything more to add?"

_I... I don't know... What can I add?_

"Anything at all?"

_Damn it... Damn that yellow bastard!_

"He clearly has nothing to say, Raan," Koris replied, his voice full of smug satisfaction. "I move for an immediate vote."

_I'm sorry, Commander... and Tali._

Shala looked uncertainly between Zaal and Garrus, hoping for the turian to say something. "I... Very well. Are the admirals ready to render their judgment?"

_I've failed you both._

* * *

_"Assemble new geth with what we have. Bypass security protocols if need be."_

As the footage ended, Shepard reeled from the memory of what he had just seen. _Tali's father was reactivating geth? And he trusted the new piece of code? How could anyone have been so careless!_ He shook his head in disappointment before sparing a glance at Tali.

To call her distraught would be an understatement.

The quarian had walked away mere moments after the footage had begun, alternating between bursts of Kheelish profanity when she heard her father's voice and quietly sobbing to the sound of the geth as it attempted to escape. Mercifully, Kasumi had shown him how to play the audio through his helmet's internal speakers, sparing Tali the discomfort of hearing the entire thing. He walked over, taking a seat on her side opposite of the thief. The human woman offered a sad half-grin to acknowledge him, and he took a deep breath.

"I know it isn't much, but it sounds like he was doing this for you."

"Like hyel, he was," Tali swore under her breath. "He did this for Mother, or some twisted version of her he had in his mind. I never wanted... this."

"But we found him," Kasumi pitched in. "And we have evidence that proves you were innocent."

"I didn't want to find it like this!" the quarian retorted, standing. She began to pace, her hands for once too angry to have anything to do with each other. "Everything here is his fault! I tried to pretend it didn't point to him, but this..." She stopped walking. "When this comes up at the trial, they'll..." Her eyes widened, and she rushed back to the humans. "We can never tell them. Not the admirals, not anyone."

Shepard traded a confused look with Kasumi. "But we might need this information. What if I can't get you off the hook without it?"

"Then I'll die without stepping foot on another quarian ship," she deadpanned, "but at least I'll be happy about it."

"But I don't understand," Kasumi added. "A few minutes ago, you sounded like you almost wanted to spit on your dad's grave. Now you're worried for what this vid says about him?"

"If this record gets out, it will tear his memory apart. My father will have every achievement he's ever made torn down, his name stricken from the manifest of every ship he's been on. The people will hold him as a monster, a-ah... _boogeyman_ to scare children into behaving. None will dare to speak of him in public, and I'd be a pariah among my own people just for being related to him."

"What about Quala? Kal? Shala'Raan?" Shepard took hold of her frantic hands, trying to get her to calm down. "If we do this, you might never see them again."

Tali looked away, quietly mulling over what he'd said. When she spoke again, her voice was full of forced neutrality.

"You're my captain in this hearing, John. It's your decision. But... please. Don't destroy what my father was." She gave a deep sigh, then freed her arms from him. The quarian walked back to the door. "Come on. If we wait too long, they'll decide we're already dead, and none of this will matter."

He spared a glance at Kasumi, who tilted her head toward the console, and nodded. "Give me a moment. I need to download the footage."

Tali said nothing, the door closing behind her with barely a whisper.

"Can you grab the file, Kasumi? I want to contact Miranda. Maybe we can use some of the data from Overlord to convince them that Cerberus was solely behind it."

"Not to ruin this perfectly good staining of a white knight," the thief replied as she walked past him, "but comms outside this ship have been blocked ever since we came aboard. I've been trying to ping Garrus or EDI for news but the messages never got through."

"Why didn't you tell me?!" he demanded as she tinkered with the console. "What if we needed to contact them during the fight? What if it had all been a trap?"

"Already crossed my mind. Whatever's blocking the signal's also blocking everything to and from this ship. We're no more likely as targets than anyone else that was here. It's more likely some defense measure the Fleet had, something to keep the geth from networking outside the ship. Besides, nothing I could do was getting past it. Didn't think you and Tali needed more to worry about."

Shepard nodded. "Touche. Seems like you're going through a lot just to download a single vid though."

"That's because I'm searching."

"Wait," he responded. "Tali already looked through everything she could. Not that I doubt your abilities, but-"

"She's a quarian and knows quarian computer systems," the woman finished. "Problem with that is that sort of mindset has limits. A maid, a janitor, a chef, and a hotel owner would all have their own ideas on where a broom should be. Each is going to look in different places if they need it and it's not in the closet."

"So... you're saying she might have missed something because she wouldn't think to look there?"

"Exactly. Salarians focus on data redundancies. Quarians focus on ease of access. Thieves, on the other hand..." A group of files appeared on screen, apparently untouched and unnoticed by Tali earlier. "...Thieves know where to look to find things that were thought to be lost forever." She opened the first file, and her jaw dropped. John followed her vision, frowning at what looked like a wall of binary code.

"What, exactly, am I looking at?"

* * *

The trip back to the Rayya had been a blur to Tali. Save for delivering her passphrase to secure docking permission on the Rayya once more, she hadn't spoken a single word aloud. She was lost in a sea of worry the entire time, both for herself and for her father. The woman wasn't even sure what she wanted anymore.

"I... Very well. Are the admirals prepared to render judgment?"

She was, however, sure that she didn't like the thought that they would have thrown her out before returning. "Sorry we're late."

John followed close behind as she marched back to the platform beside Garrus. The turian, however shook his head softly as Shepard spoke. "Tali'Zorah vas Normandy saved the Alarei. I hope this proves her loyalty to the quarian people."

Koris leaned back. "Her loyalty was never in doubt, only her judgment."

"And it would not be the first time," Tovo added, earning a burning glare from Tali. Shepard took his place between Tali and Garrus, whispering to the turian.

"What's the situation?"

"Perhaps Tali'Zorah can offer something to encourage more trust in her judgment?" Shala asked, ignorant of their side conversation. "Anything at all?"

"Bad," Garrus muttered back. "Tovo took over the momentum and ran with it. At this point, I don't think anything less than concrete physical evidence will sway them."

"Did you find anything on the Alarei that could clarify what happened there?" Gerrel pleaded.

"You're sure, Garrus?"

"Positively, Shepard."

The human locked eyes with Tali for a long moment, the quarian unconsciously reaching for his hand. He walked away, stepping around her to stand in front of the platform.

"John... John, please..."

He closed his eyes and turned away, his helmeted head now facing the admirals. Tali closed her eyes, lowering her head as she waited to hear what happened.

_Ancestors, please don't let him-_

"I have new evidence to present, recovered while Tali'Zorah stopped the geth attack on the Alarei."

The quarian's eyes shot open at near FTL speed. "No..."

"Well, out with it!" Gerrel urged. "What was the evidence?"

"The parts Tali sent were not the cause of the geth outbreak. Other forces at work aboard the Alarei led to the emergency."

Tali knew that Garrus had heard her last word, and was most likely looking at her with concern. Even so, that didn't stop her from uttering another murmur. "Oh Keelah, no..."

"Admiral Rael'Zorah was performing experiments on fully assembled geth," Shepard continued, showing the schematic that Kasumi had found by the security checkpoint. Xen leaned forward hungrily at the image. "In order to take full advantage of his weapons testing, he needed to model the effects on whole platforms."

_I'm sorry Father... I shouldn't have trusted him._

"So you're saying it's all Rael's fault," Tovo piped in, sounding as if he'd just won a seat on the admiralty board. "This just shows how desperate their case has gotten. They're trying to save face by shifting the blame to Tali's father. Selfishness of this magnitude is simply _unquarian_. I move to have Shepard removed from the trial."

"Denied," Raan shot. "Shepard, do you believe this disaster was Rael's doing?"

"No," Shepard responded. "The tests didn't need operational geth, just ones with active shields. Rael only needed rudimentary programs to run the shields and have them pose in combat stances. No real geth. However, someone aboard the fleet sabotaged his experiments."

"What?!" Daro interjected as Tovo momentarily stepped back in shock. "Why would someone do such a thing?"

"Because," John said, turning to face the audience, "they were working with Cerberus."

Immediately, the room burst into an uproar.

"Blasphemy!"

"How dare you!"

"Why would you say such madness?"

"Order!" The room quieted down as eyes drifted back to Raan. "These are serious accusations, Captain Shepard. Do you have any proof?"

"Yes, admirals," he replied, touching a few keys on his omni-tool. Two enlarged images appeared over his omni-tool, each depicting a program's root code. "The image on my left depicts a program my team encountered on Aite, a human-held colony. Cerberus had established a large base there, chiefly to study methods of permanent geth hacking. The program was not without fault, and someone went insane from trying to control the synthetics. That was Project Overlord, and my team had to pacify the geth there before they could upload the viral code off-planet. That was four weeks ago."

Tali watched as Daro glared intently at Shepard, though she had no idea whether it was from eagerness or malice. The human ignored the admiral and continued. "The other image shows a program that was smuggled into the Alarei approximately a week and a half ago. Its sender tag was scrambled, but most of the program was identical to what Cerberus had used on Aite. Of particular note is this section of code. It would allow for instant, unabated response to a particular signal. What it means is that any hardware that's been exposed to the program could be spontaneously activated and controlled by whatever or whoever planted that code on the Alarei."

"Keelah," Han burst out. "They were probably taking advantage of his geth parts, using his ship for his experiments. If someone got nosy, then this traitor could have activated the geth on a whim."

"That isn't far from my own conclusion," John said.

"Sanir'Tovo," Raan said, addressing the prosecutor. "Do you have any possible alternate explanation for how they could have come across this code? Your experience must give you a unique perspective."

The man lowered his head, glowering at the floor. "There's no precedent for programs successfully doing what they say this one did. Theoretically, it's possible. The only question is if she made it herself."

"I say she's already addressed that with Shepard's testimony," Koris replied. "It's obvious to me that whoever acquired this code must have gotten it through the Illusive Man."

Tovo stood silent, his eyes narrowed in anger.

_Does this mean... Did he just..._

Raan looked positively relieved. "Are the judges prepared to vote?" Immediately, all three nodded and typed into their omni-tools. By that point, Shala's words were just a formality.

"Tali'Zorah vas Normandy, in light of this new evidence, you are cleared of all charges."

_Thank the Ancestors!_

"I'll head in investigation into this traitor," Tovo growled, his wounded pride almost as visible as his bright yellow suit as he played diplomat. "If he's still on this fleet, he won't get far."

"Captain Shepard, please accept these gifts of software and resources in appreciation for you taking the time to represent one of our people."

"Pretty sure she's one of _our_ people now," Garrus muttered. John, however, remained quiet as he nodded.

"This hearing is now concluded," Raan continued, addressing the Conclave. "Go in peace, Tali'Zorah vas Normandy. Keelah se'lai."

Tali smiled as the human walked back toward her. "Keelah se'lai."

* * *

Most wouldn't know it, but there was a difference between pain and Pain.

One was a mere annoyance, a distraction that merely slowed you down. It was something one could push to the back of their mind and ignore, provided their will and their meds were strong enough. Simply put, it was something that could be dealt with if you set your mind to it.

Silence.

A sharp intake of breath.

A still hand twitched, ever so slightly.

"Keelah!" A searing inferno of sensation slammed down. Fireworks of agony blossomed everywhere.

The hand stilled, and minutes passed.

Blurriness, fogginess. A crushing weight. The hand moved once again. The suit was a skintight torture chamber, as if full of thousands of needles and blades for every few square centimeters of skin.

The survivor passed out once more, the Pain allowing not even a single coherent thought.

* * *

**Note from the author: Yes, I'm alive. And so is this fic! Merry Christmas, indeed ;)  
Long story short, classes between Thanksgiving and finals were a beast. I had to get a bit closer than I'd liked to some textbooks.  
(It was purely physical. They still have the incriminating photos. I'd rather not talk about it.)**

**Anywho, big things a'comin!  
I'd like to rule out one of the suspects for TIM's quarian Overlord contact here but he/she is so popular (on the poll at least) that I'll save that un-reveal A/N for next chapter, since everyone will have read through this one by then.  
That one's been like Barthandelus from FFXIII; it just refuses to die no matter how many times you smack it down, lol.**

**As for the vid of Rael shown when the squad reached the hub, it's the scene from near the end of "Father Time".  
Didn't feel that it needed to be repeated verbatim, but it's there in case you forgot.  
(After a wait like this, I certainly wouldn't blame you)**

**Oh, and if you haven't done so yet (or if you've changed your mind), I'd appreciate if you tell me who you ****_think_**** is the quarian traitor at this point. Poll's up on my author profile!  
PlzNTnx :D**

**Quala'Oro is an OC created by Levi Matthews for ****_Finding a Way_****, and is used by permission.**

**p.s. In response to tom80 BSN: Yes, some of them are joke answers.  
Hanala'Jarva, for instance, is from DarkDanny's _Uplifted_ series and won't be in this story.  
Legion also fails the Turing test. Pretty sure TIM would know he isn't a quarian.**


	16. The Walled Garden

15: The Walled Garden

The Pain had subsided, if just barely.

It had taken the better part of an hour, but the survivor had managed to climb out of the wreckage that was once a storage closet. The quarian had shoved aside thoughts of fallen comrades, inching up the stairs to the commons. With a wave of a sparking omni-tool, one of the side doors had admitted the wounded crewman into a waiting hallway. The survivor didn't dare to look at the dozens of fallen passed on the way, both organic and synthetic.

_Keep... going..._

A second wave of the omni-tool, and a door at the end of the hall opened invitingly. The quarian's mask turned toward a sign by it for but a moment, confirming the room as correct.

_Communications._

The sole living occupant of the room limped toward a console, typing in a code on the seemingly-dead interface. The holo immediately sprang to life, a message emblazoned across it.

**Blackout In Effect - Enter Deactivation Code**

Eyes squinted shut momentarily, forcing back the Pain before it could reclaim the survivor once more. The quarian's gloved hands slowly lumbered across the simulated keys, each click a struggle for consciousness.

**Code Accepted. Blackout Has Been Lifted.**

The survivor slumped down against a wall, breaths slowing as the Pain intensified once more. Fingers moved by the light of a glowing omni-tool, finding a particular contact. They halted just before initiating a call.

_If they find me... No, not directly... It's too much of a risk._

The fingers selected another target, one that would be sufficiently scrambled as to baffle any who tried to track the message. The quarian spoke slowly, broken ribs protesting every forced breath as the omni-tool translated speech to visual text.

_It... is done._

The survivor passed out once more, but wasn't worried as consciousness ebbed away.

The recipient would know exactly what to do.

* * *

People milled about as the trial ended, a sea of colored hoods flowing for the exits. A particular black one stood out among the waves, swiftly cutting through the much slower current.

_Where is Xen go-_ Tali'Zorah found her train of thought violently derailed as someone cleared their throat. She tore her gaze away from the crowd of dispersing quarians, pivoting with her spine set unnaturally straight. Next to her, a human mirrored the act.

"What do you want, Tovo?"

To his credit, the yellow-suited officer didn't bother to feign surprise. "I'm gathering a task force to verify that the ship is as you say. You're certain that all of the geth were deactivated?" She narrowed her eyes in response.

"Positive," John answered for her. "The leftovers dropped after we took out their networking hub. Even saw a few that had regrouped for an ambush on the way back to the shuttle. No damage, all dead."

Sanir harrumphed, not sparing a glance at the soldier. "I hope for my officers' sake you're right." He continued his studious stare, and Tali actively resisted the urge to blink. "Tell me, was there anything else you found on the Alarei? Anything that could help us discover who the traitor is? Or perhaps to help cut down our list of suspects? "

The engineer's eyes became dangerous slits. Of course, there was Mala'Reet's recording, but her head was already swiveling slowly back and forth before she even thought about it. _Besides, Tovo would think it was Father's fault, or at least try to get him posthumously exiled for testing on active geth._ "I don't have anything to give you, Tovo."

He stepped closer, his words a low whisper that she doubted Shepard's omni-tool could translate. "I hope, for the sake of my men that you're telling the truth... It would be a shame if your _sh'rayan_ were to get any bloodier."

"Prazza made his choice," the woman growled back.

"I wonder if that's what the people you left on Freedom's Progress and Haestrom would say." He stepped back as John shot him a venomous look for mentioning the planet, but not because of the human. "Congratulations on being cleared, Tali. I just hope you can stay on the right side of the law this time."

The officer walked past, making a point of bumping shoulders with her once more. The act wasn't unnoticed by a pair of quarians in red and green, the latter of which narrowed her eyes.

"Everyone heard me the last time, right?" Quala asked.

"Heard, but not underst-" Tali cut off Garrus's words with an elbow to the stomach. While not enough to really hurt him with his armor, it did stop him from asking what _biea_ meant again. Kal, meanwhile, cleared his throat.

"Garrus, I'd... like to have a word with you... over there."

As the turian shrugged and walked off with him, Tali spoke to Quala in a hushed whisper. "Are you sure that's a good idea? I know he still held a grudge from... you know..."

"Relax, Tali," the younger soldier responded. "I've convinced him to try and forgive the guy."

"Are you sure that's wise?" the engineer asked, her head tilting slightly as she folded her arms.

"No," Quala responded, lowering her voice even more. "But you'd be surprised what you can accomplish by threatening to waive your clean room request."

Tali felt her blood run cold as her friend giggled with a near-complete lack of discretion. _What if John and I can't even-_

"Oh, relax, Tali," the younger quarian replied as her chuckles died down. "Even if you don't find a way, I'm sure he'd figure it out for you." She gave a quick tilt of her head in the human's direction for emphasis.

"But how can you be so sure?"

Quala winked at her. "For starters, he's been staring at your butt ever since we started talking."

Tali's eyes moved without forethought, catching the human just as his head tilted upward. "We still need to get your arm looked at," he recovered, though the quarian noticed his back was much straighter than his usual stance.

"Nice try, Shepard, but she already knows."

"Knows what?" the human asked, his voice slightly higher than normal.

"Typical..." Quala responded with a roll of her eyes. "I have to go make sure that Kally isn't trying to bash Garrus's head in. Don't be a stranger, now!"

As the green-clad quarian walked away, Tali felt a grin pinch at one corner of her mouth. The human continued to play nonchalant, shrugging his shoulders as she eyed him knowingly.

"I'm just worried about that suit seal. And that ship was anything but sterile."

"Right..." she replied, blocking out thoughts of the state of the Alarei's crew. "Let's go before your eyes start wandering again."

"Wandering where?" he asked, catching up with her as she stepped toward the doorway. "I was looking at-"

"John. I know you're lying."

As the human sputtered out another half-formed denial, she couldn't help but smile.

_Even if I don't deserve it... and we can't... do _that_ for now, at least I know he's interested._

* * *

"Is Tovo always that friendly?"

"Keelah!"

_Oops._ Kasumi deactivated her cloak, shimmering into view next to a particularly flustered admiral. "Sorry about that, Raan."

"It's been a long time since my Pilgrimage," the quarian breathed, a hand over her breast. "I've already helped raise Tali and Quala once; I doubt I'd be able to do it again."

"I'll try to lay off the shenanigans... for now, at least," the human responded with a cheery grin.

"Ancestors, help me," the admiral muttered with a shake of her head.

"Anyway, about the yellow bosh'tet..."

Raan tilted her head to the side slightly and shrugged one shoulder. "Well, aside from his issues with Tali he's usually quite the professional."

"I find that hard to believe."

"You'll find you're not alone in that, but despite what Quala says, the man is very good at his job. He took the Idenna attack as a personal insult, and has stepped up security fleet-wide since then. He even caught a few agents of the Shadow Broker's, if the rumors are true."

"Doesn't mean he should act like that."

The old quarian gave an exasperated sigh. "If it's any consolation, he was no harder on her than he is on any suspects important enough to catch his attention." When the thief failed to hide an eye roll, the quarian gave a quick flick of her helmet. "But I can tell that there are other things on your mind, child."

_I guess Tali wasn't lying about quarians reading body language_. The human gave a quick glance over her shoulder. "Yeah... I was wondering if you knew where Tali had gone... Or Shep, for that matter."

Shala stiffened, the glow of her eyes becoming more intense. "I'd imagine it was the same place, given that they left the courtyard together. Tell me, how has he been treating her?"

_Um, crap- Are they even going public about it yet?_ "He's helped her out of some tough spots. We all have, actually. She even showed me her face once. Emergency circumstances, of course."

"WHAT?!"

The thief almost let a grin slip before continuing. "It was a one-time thing. She had too many drinks and she trusted me to help her out."

"But why didn't she ask the ship's doctor?" the quarian asked.

"Well, she had actually managed to avoid willingly showing Chakwas her face up to that point. Plus, she wasn't thinking straight at the time. Not that I'm complaining, mind you. I mean we had bonded a bit before then, and she called me her hesh'nealan."

"Oh," the elder woman breathed. "So I guess you've talked about a lot of things together."

The admiral's attention successfully diverted, Kasumi finally allowed her grin to show. "Yes, she even began to tell me this one story her mom used to tell. About Tas'Nerah."

"Really?" Raan asked, her voice full of genuine curiosity. "I'm surprised she still remembers it. Even when I was her age, there were few who knew the tale. Now, I doubt there's more than six aboard all of the Rayya that know all of it." She took a slow breath, her next words full of pride. "It gladdens me that Laenya was able to pass it on."

Kasumi raised an eyebrow. "The way she told it, I thought it was common knowledge."

"Once upon a time, yes," Shala responded with a shake of her head. "Even then, it wasn't the true form. Before I heard it from Laenya, every version I'd heard said that Tas and Alarei had kissed right when-"  
"Whoa-whoa-whoa!" Kasumi interjected, her hands waving wildly. "Spoiler alert! I haven't gotten to that part yet."

The admiral chuckled, gesturing to a nearby bench. "Perhaps I can help you there. I happen to be one of the few who can tell the story as it was meant to be told, and my next meeting isn't for several hours."  
The human nodded and followed the quarian over to the seat. As they reclined on the metal fixture, a simple plate jutting out from the wall, Raan looked at her companion. "Now, how far along are you?"  
"Well, they had just seen the hidden stars in the sky, and were following them."

"Ah, yes... Yevi's tears..."

* * *

True to what Tali had claimed on the Alarei, the med-bay hadn't been far. Captain Danna had been close enough to offer his girlfriend brief congratulations from his post by the Normandy before she'd entered the room. As minutes ticked by, the human leaned against the wall, quietly playing an omni-tool game to pass the time and attempt to quiet his growing worries. Over an hour had gone by before the door's interface swapped from red to green, and a familiar armored quarian stepped out.

"What happened? Did the seal break? Are you okay?"

Tali blinked in apparent surprise at his sudden barrage of questions. "I'm fine, John. There wasn't any contamination."

"But the time-"

"Right, er- sorry about that," she sheepishly murmured as luminous eyes turned away, her fingers twiddling. "I spent most of it watching a vid... I was actually done within six minutes."

"Then why didn't you come out?"

"I just... needed the time alone..." Her eyes shot open, as if realizing she'd spoken too soon. "Not that I didn't want to be around you, I mean."

He tensed up, his heart pounding as he uttered a single syllable.

"What...?"

"Keelah, that came out wrong," she muttered. The quarian tapped the side of her helmet, tilting her head to the side. John glanced in that direction, seeing Danna's guard detail still at their posts.  
_She wants to talk in private?_ He opened up a dedicated channel, and the quarian began to speak.  
"Sorry I know this sounds weird, and it was rude of me, but I just had to- to get some quiet time. It was selfish though, and I'm sorry again- Bosh'tet! I should stop saying that- 'Sorry', I mean... For saying 'sorry'... I mean I'm sorry for-" She paused, the silence making the human even more tense. "Sorry if I'm babbling."

The human stopped to take a deep breath, trying to keep his own anxiety from showing. He reached out a tentative hand, wondering for a split second if the quarian would take it. When she did, he finally exhaled.

"It's okay, Tali. Just... tell me what's wrong."

She nodded, and her words came at a pace only slightly slower. "Today, I've been put on trial for treason, could have been blacklisted by my people, walked aboard a ship whose crew had been completely wiped out, found out that my father had died after performing risky experiments that endangered the Fleet and _should_ have gotten _him_ exiled, discovered that somewhere there's a quarian actually _willing_ to work with the Illusive Man, got into an argument with you... Not to mention the fact that we had to fight several dozen synthetic bosh'tets along the way. And I got shot." She gave a short, if forced breath, like a bodybuilder dropping a barbell after a set of dead lifts. "This has been the single most stressful day of my _life_, John. I needed some time to process everything that's happened."

The human started to relax, now that he'd found the root of the problem. "You know I would have been there for you."

"Yeah..." she mumbled, her head bowed. "Grief kind of keeps you from thinking straight sometimes."

He drew her closer. "You know I'd understand if you wanted to go back to the Normandy."

"I do, but I'd rather be here right now. With you."

"You're sure about that?" he asked, an eyebrow raised.

"I'm not going back there just so you and Ken can stare at my butt all day," she responded, playfully swatting his shoulder. "Besides, I'd rather have at least one thing worth remembering from our first time together on my birth ship."

"And that would be?"

The woman broke out of his grasp, urging him forward with a tug of his hand. "A tour, of course. I do seem to remember someone mentioning how much they liked to hear my voice."

He smiled. "Even if you were the worst guide ever, that alone would be totally worth it."

* * *

When Tas and Alerai reached the peak-

**Still too far.**

Hmm... As they clambered ashore-

**BEFORE that. Start from when they saw the island.**

But it wasn-

**You're doing it again.**

Apologies, child.

**If you're grinning in that mask...**

I'm doing nothing of the sort.

…

*Laughs*

**I knew it.**

No, child. You just remind me of Tali when she asked me to tell the story to her. Always sure I'd forgotten something until I learned it her mother's way.

But I digress...

It had been a full week since the eclipse. What little land-grown food that had remained on the ship had long since been consumed. The emotional high from seeing Yevi's tears had faded, and what little fish they were able to catch did little for their hunger.

Tas slowly ascended the tallest mast as the sun drifted toward the horizon. His burden, a small package, hindered him only slightly as he climbed. When he reached the top, a tired voice greeted him.

"Why didn't you use the pulley?"

The navigator spared a quick glance at the apparatus, much too small to carry his own weight. "I figured you might want the company," he responded, holding out the package.

"A man doesn't usually give his company so freely to someone who threatened his life," Sil'Reino thought aloud. He accepted and unwrapped the object, a hunk of freshly-caught lopi fish. "And not with such a generous meal, either," he added with a frown.

"I believe in giving people what they deserve for their position. You are still our spotter, and we need you to stay sharp."

"And I believe you're still leading us all to our deaths," the disgraced captain retorted, lifting the food to his mouth. "But to each his own." Sil took a bite as he finished, savoring the-

**Wait, he ate a raw fish? Straight from the sea?**

Why of course. That's the best time to eat it. Still tender, and with just the right amount of saltiness from the water.

**But your immune systems! That can't have been healthy.**

For humans or asari, or even turians that would hold true. Our homeworld evolved several species of symbiotic bacteria and viruses though. Some of them are even necessary to healthy functioning for us; the Rayya has a lab that breeds certain strains specifically as additives for the nutrient paste we produce. So long as it wasn't decaying, quarians could eat most Rannoch-native wildlife raw. At least, that was the case before the geth... But that was a long time ago.

*sigh*

Moving on- The captain handed the fish back as soon as he'd swallowed his first bite. "Let the crew have the rest, I know they need it."

"They already-"

"I _know_ they need it," Sil repeated, wrapping it back up. "Besides, I'm not doing much up here." He leaned back against the ship's mast, allowing the column to support his weight. "I am surprised though; lopi usually don't swim this far from land."

Tas followed his eyes toward the descending sun, staying quiet for a long while. "Maybe we're close to land."

"More likely this one got away from its school," Sil responded. The pair settled into silence once more, the wind whipping at their realks. The sun had just begun to slide under the waves by the time he spoke once more. "What's your plan for all of this anyway? If we do find your mythical 'garden in the ocean'?"

"I'm… undecided at the moment," Tas confessed. "It's an opportunity too good to ignore for Neema's sake, but our state is nowhere near as bad as it is in Idenna."

"That isn't what I meant," Sil retorted. "Do you really expect Draam..."

…

…

**Hello?**

…

**Umm, Shala'Raan?**

…

**Are you alr-**

"_LAND!"_

**What th-!**

*chuckling* I didn't surprise you too badly, did I, child?

**No... Maybe, but I might have had that one coming for earlier...**

Glad to see you still remembered.

**Right, but why did you have to yell out like that?**

Because that's what Sil said, of course.

* * *

With the exception of the trip to the Neema, the past forty-eight hours had come and gone without incident.

And that was exactly the problem.

Miranda continued pacing across her office, despite the extremely late hour. She checked her omni-tool once more, by her count the forty-seventh time in the past few minutes.

There were no new messages.

The woman frowned, sitting down at her desk. Thanks to her father's rigorous training (_and Wilson's meddling with Lazarus_), she'd gained a respectable sense of patience. Normally, she'd have only considered her contact's tardiness a minor annoyance.

Of course, her correspondents weren't organizing a secret transfer of her sister on a daily basis, either.  
The human drafted a message, sending it before she could allow herself a second thought.

_Lanteia,_  
_I did not receive your update. At this point, I must assume our previous plans have been compromised. Switch to the second backup I told you about at our last meeting and wait for me to arrive. Your girls will be compensated for the extra expenses._  
_-Ms. Lawson_  
_p.s. Do not reply to this message._

As the XO closed her omni-tool's display, she gripped her forehead. _There are too many unknowns... As much as I hate to admit it, I may need some help._ She spared a glance skyward, her eyes lingering where she knew the nearest intercom speaker was. Miranda knew she was a word away from reaching EDI, and through her, Shepard, but one thing stayed her tongue.

Pride, unlike patience, was proving difficult for her to cast away.

* * *

The ship burst from its quiet stupor into a flurry of activity at Sil's declaration. Tas's untrained eye hadn't seen their target at first, but he was able to catch sight of it just before the last dying light of Tikkun faded away. With only a slight course correction, they sailed on through the night, the stars' reflections on the inky surface of the waves barely enough to steer by until the moon began to rise.

By the new moonlight, Tas stood at the ship's bow. Off in the distance, he could see the growing silhouette of the landmass in front of him.

And he was _not_ happy.

**What?!**

"The bosh'tet actually proved me wrong and he's still not overjoyed? Kal would never believe that one."

Tas turned around, seeing the still-armored form of Alarei walking up behind him. "Oh, I didn't hear you coming," he murmured, distracted.

"C'mon, Bosh'tet. You've won. All we have to do is toss the hyel overboard and we can bring our people over here."

The navigator, however, shook his head. "We still need supplies for the return trip, and... Idenna needs it just as much as we do, if not more."

The soldier narrowed her eyes. "You're not telling me that the idiot, Draam, is getting-"

"No, Alarei," he interrupted. "I'm saying that their people are in a worse state than ours. I'd still like to find a way to help them as well."

"I don't see it happening, Bosh'tet. Not as long as Murin's around." She stifled a snicker, her eyes closing for a moment. "Heh, _'a-round'_."

Tas, however, wasn't amused. "We still need to find a safe docking point."

"Just run her ashore. It's not like the whole place is-"

"Surrounded by cliffs?" he finished. "Actually, it is, from the looks of it. See for yourself." He passed her a telescope, allowing her a few moments to react to the sight before speaking once more. "We can't expect our whole crew to scale a damn _rayya_ carrying a bunch of food."

**Wait, I think my translator just glitched. Did you just say the name of this ship?**

You mean it doesn't translate?

**Nope. Is it another word for "cliff"?**

Not really... Well, a rayya is... an old part of our culture. Are you aware of the old practice of ancestor worship?

**I've heard of it, yes. Tali mentioned it once when I surprised her in the mess hall.**

Well, not all of the ancestral spirits were seen as positive forces. Some believed there were evil ones, _traeln-suri_, who would sow chaos among the tribes. It's an old superstition, even older than this tale. Clan elders used to build tall walls out of stone around dwellings, blessing them to keep the spirits and the animals they possessed out of their homes.

**So it's a wall?**

Not quite. It's the spiritual element that separates a rayya from a typical wall. The word itself is similar to "protection". I guess you could say... it's meaning is similar to "impassible spirit-warding bastion".

**Interesting... and the name of Tali's birth ship?**

It took a significant amount of damage during our exodus, child. After all was said and done, it was the one ship in its class that didn't have any casualties aboard, despite the punishment it took. When the captain requested the name change, nobody was about to oppose it.

**Then, Tas was referring to the cliffs as... an impenetrable shield of sorts?**

Precisely.

Alarei shrugged as she handed the telescope back to Tas. "Well what do you expect me to do about it? Start singing your little legend-song?"

The navigator paused, stricken by a thought. "Actually..."

She rolled her eyes. "You have got to be kidding me."

"What? No, you don't have to sing it." He then ran to the edge of the boat, his eyes cast downward as his head disappeared over the railing.

"Don't tell me you're getting seasick now of all times."

"No, it's the last two lines. '_After time adrift among open stars, along tides of light and through shoals of dust..._"

She blinked. "_I will return to where I began_."

"Exactly," he responded, his head surfacing. "Well, don't just stand there, help me look!"

"I've got a better idea," she replied, a grin on her face.

* * *

As it turned out, Tali was definitely not the worst tour guide ever.

John walked, squeezed, ran, and, in one particular case, crawled his way after her for hours as she led him through her birth ship. All the while, she spoke. She yelled to be heard over the rumble of the near-ancient air filtration center, whispered when they walked past a hall of young quarians in suits much too loose with heads bent over holographic displays, sped up to a rate that would have made Mordin blush when they neared the engine room, and slowed her tongue when they strode through a multilevel greenhouse within the massive sphere at the ship's bow.

Not that the human minded the change of pace. Truth be told, he was mystified by the sights that confronted him, and not always for the best of reasons. Dozens of engineers working harmoniously in the drive core, even as children played worryingly close to live wires and vents. A hundred families crammed into cubicles each a quarter the size of his office on the Normandy, spending a few precious minutes together between working shifts. A crowd of people waiting outside one of the clean rooms, most of them huddled together in pairs and speaking in low voices. A pair of marines rationing out food to a gigantic mess hall full of calm quarians, untouched heavy weapons hanging visibly from their suits. For every positive thing about the lives he saw, there was always a harsh reminder of their sad state. Despite it all, his guide remained ever cheerful as they wandered about the ship, spouting bucket loads of trivia that he was able to retain about as well as cupped hands could hold water. Even so, the quarian greenhouse was the first thing to truly stun him into silence.

Hundreds of tiered levels lined the curved walls, all of them sloping ever so slightly downward into the center of the room. A vertical shaft of light glowed from the center of the room, bathing the sphere in a bright reddish glow. It took a few seconds for the human's vision to clear after the sudden shift, due to how dark the previous rooms had been. As his eyes adjusted, figures became visible between the tall stalks of vegetation. Dozens of quarians were visible on their level alone, all toiling away without end. They labored away, seeding, watering, and harvesting without casting the two intruders a single glance.

"How many are there?" he asked, interrupting Tali as he came out of his reverie.

"Um... Like I said, this isn't my area of expertise," she haltingly responded. "I think Father told me it was something like a... a twelfth of a normal ship's crew that works specifically on food production. On a liveship like the Rayya, though, it's much higher... closer to one-half."

The two of them stepped aside, a pair of quarians pushing a bin as large as an aircar and loaded with the grassy plants back up the path where the couple had come from. The human cast another glance around, noticing that none of the farmers carried anything more complex than a power tool.  
"But why work like this? Your engineers could build something to make life easier on the workers, maybe automate some of the work."

One of the workers, an orange-hooded male, paused and offered him an angry glare. "What, like the _geth_? Are you insa-"

"Let's move on," Tali offered, cutting in before the situation could escalate. She dragged John back to the entrance by an arm, her voice picking up in tempo again as she changed topics. "There's still a lot we haven't covered. You haven't even seen my favorite spot on the ship yet."

"I thought the engine room was your favorite spot," the human jested. To his surprise, the quarian quieted for a moment, her head tilting slightly as she thought about what he said.

"Well it's still in the top two."

* * *

Alarei gathered the whole crew to the ship's upper decking. While most of them had been confused by the decision to bring everyone topside, she soon brought them out of their stupor. Her simple order to "Look over the edge and try to find something shiny or glowing" was initially met with hesitation, many afraid of being tossed overboard. When she told them that anyone who didn't follow the order would be used as her sparring partners for the next week, however, they all rushed to the railing and followed the order.

Hours passed as the moon rose across the sky without any change. However, just as it reached its peak, one of the crewmen raised a hand, pointing frantically into the waves. Tas and Draam rushed over, and the Neeman quickly questioned the sailor.

"What is it, crewman? Did you find any light?"

"Better! I found FISH!"

Needless to say, Draam was not amused. "I don't care about the fish right now! This is our only lead to reaching the shore safely. If you can't-"

"Draam," Tas cut in, eyes widening as he spotted what the sailor had mentioned. "The fish is glowing."

Firn heard the exchange, and cast his own eyes where Tas was pointing. Sure enough, the silhouetted fish was visible just below the waves, a ghostly white aura surrounding it. "Are you sure it's not just one that got away from its school, Tas? It's only a single fish."

As he spoke, however, a second one joined the first. They began to swim off to port, where a third one joined them.

"It's also the closest we've seen to a 'tide of light' so far," the navigator responded, raising his own head. "Man the helm, Draam! We're following those fish."

While initially skeptical, the crew's doubts soon faded away. More of the mysterious fish joined the rapidly-growing school in larger numbers as they sailed, eventually bathing the whole ship in an eerie glow from below. The group swelled in size, to the point where they were not following a single fish, but rather, a luminous trail on the water. Every now and then, an unfamiliar fish would swim through the swarm, clearly visible because its own scales did not produce the others' light. As they continued, Tas noticed that a thin dusty film was becoming more and more visible on the water's surface, scattering the unearthly glow even more.

The trail led them into a sheltered bay, a creek driving a fissure into the wall just barely wide enough for the ship to pass unscathed. After a very short discussion, the crew deployed their oars and rowed them upstream. A sheltered quay lay just beyond, rolling hills evident from the glow of the rising sun.

"We should go ashore," Alarei muttered, standing next to Tas.

"Agreed," he responded. "The crew could explore, find some food-"

"Let me rephrase that. _You and I_ should go ashore."

**What?!**

Tas's eyes widened, his head slowly turning toward her. "Alarei, are you-"

"Keelah, this bosh'tet..." she muttered. The soldier then raised her voice. "_You_ should go to higher ground to get the lay of the land. _I_ should come with you so you don't accidentally kill yourself with that thing tied to your waist."

"You mean my sword?"

"I meant your realk, but if you're feeling that confident..."

***snicker***

"Come on," he muttered, ignoring her laughter.

With that, the two of them disembarked. They ignored the score of sailors rushing around them, eagerly attacking the numerous surrounding plants with reckless abandon for their fruits and firewood. As they climbed, the joyous voices of the crew slowly quieted to a distant hum. Soon after, nothing but the rustle of wind through grasses and trees could be heard as they walked up the hill in silence.

Eventually, they scaled their way to the top of the cliff, the morning sunlight bathing everything with its bright warmth. The lay of the land was exposed to them, a blue expanse surrounding the entire area. A brownish line was just visible on the edge of the horizon, making the navigator's mind go blank for a moment.

The soldier, however, wasn't as awed. "Nowhere near big enough for all of Neema. I knew this would be another disappointment."

Tas gasped at the sight. "Alarei, look at-"

"If you try to tell me how 'beautiful' this view is, Tas, I swear I'm going to vomit. On you."

"No, look! See that line over there?"

She squinted, shading her brow from Tikkun. "Yeah, I guess. Why should we care?"

He smiled. "Rannoch f'Traeln isn't just an island, Alarei. It's a whole continent!"

* * *

"Wow..."

Tali grinned behind her mask, silently agreeing with the human at her side. All around them, workers hurried to and fro, bustling between ships and rapidly-emptying loading trolleys in an eerie silence. Transport vessels were densely packed on the floor, each barely allowing its neighbors enough room to load up.

Of course, those weren't the ships they were looking at.

Thousands more were easily visible from where they stood at the edge of the ring of transports. The stunning panorama offered an unobscured view of nearly the entire Migrant Fleet. Without as much as a pane of glass separating them from the expanse, the ships formed a shimmering blue-silver sea of light across the inky darkness of space.

"And I thought the view from the cockpit was amazing," the human muttered over their comm line, a necessary tool in the vacuum.

"It'd be a shame if this wasn't," Tali replied over her own comm. "It was designed as an observation deck. People were supposed to be able to look around and see all of space around the ship from anywhere in this room."

"I just can't believe that your-" The human stopped himself from continuing, clearly self-conscious. "I mean of course they could have, but seeing... _this_..." He gestured toward the extravagant view, searching for the right word.

_He'll mince words with the most powerful people in the galaxy, but worries about his speech in front of me..._ Tali grinned at the momentary inversion, allowing him to fumble for a few seconds before letting him off the hook. "I didn't believe Mother the first time she told me either. I thought this part of the ship had been scrapped by an asari vessel, myself." When he gave a nervous chuckle, she took a comforting hold of his hand.

She knew the other quarians were too busy to notice, let alone care.

_And they could go to hell if they did._ She turned back to the vista, her eyes wandering over the innumerable waves of silver. "It's odd, really. The last great marvel of quarian engineering before the geth rebelled: a group of self-sustaining luxury hotel ships, ones even the asari would have died for a chance to come aboard... And now..." She sniffled slightly, picking out the form of the _Hesh'la_, second of the three liveships among the crowd.

"And now you're lucky any of them are still around," John finished for her.

Tali nodded, her eyes watering. "It's such an amazing view..."

The human scooted closer. "Thanks for bringing me."

She chuckled a little despite the tears, the situation feeling more bizarre by the second. "I kind of wish Father could say the same... After Mother died, there was a time where I tried so hard to stay close to him." The quarian looked away, huffing as moisture continued to collect on her eyes. "But there was always something he had to do. Always a reason he couldn't just... _be_ there, _be_ a real parent. I mean it was like that part of him died with her, but I always thought- I hoped- But there wasn't enough time to-"  
She turned away, her sorrow threatening to overwhelm her as it had in the med bay. She reached for her helmet, a digit heading for the switch that would mute her end of the channel. _And spare him the embarrassment._

It never finished the trip. John stopped her hand just short of its destination, fingers parting in that special way of his as they guided her arm away from the mask. She felt his other arm on her shoulder, drawing her closer even as she fought to control her breathing. _I can't be weak. Not in front of my captain. I have to be strong, always. It's my duty as chief engineer, morale-building... For the good of the crew, just like Father... _She closed her eyes, casting her head downward and quietly hoping that he hadn't seen a telltale shine from the warm droplet racing to her chin. _Like he taught me..._

His hand moved from her shoulder to the side of her mask, turning her head back. Against her better judgement, she opened her eyes. Through small slits in the human's own armored helmet, the woman could see twin glints of blue.

"You could never do anything that would make me think less of you, Tali."

She moved without thinking, pulling him toward her in a tight embrace as her head rested next to his. There, in the cold vacuum of the Rayya's makeshift shuttle bay, she stopped holding back. Tears streamed down her face; sorrow, joy, and fear melding together into one as she cried on his shoulder.

For better or worse, she knew he was hers.

* * *

**Note from the author: Aaaaand... done!  
****Went through two rewrites on the Tas parts, and still not _quite_ satisfied, but oh well...**

**On the other hand, it felt great writing Miri again, something that will be happening _a lot_ over the next few chapters.  
Hopefully, I'll get back into swing by the end of the month. (I'd like to see the end of that Shadow Broker plotline soon, wouldn't you?)  
The gang will (finally) leave for their next destination in Chapter 16.**

**Quala'Oro was created by Levi Matthews for _Finding a Way_ and is used by permission.**

**Day 1 edit: Forgot the glossary (D'oh!)**

* * *

hesh'la = [redacted]  
(Credit to Tairis Deamhan)

traeln-suri = "tainted ancestor-spirits"; malicious spirits who would possess animals and the elements to wreak havoc on the living. No longer a major part of mainstream ancestral worship among quarians.

rayya = "spirit wall"; a sturdy (and often difficult to surmount) wall created around old quarian dwellings, from their times as a nomadic people. They were used to protect them from perceived traeln-suri, as well as the occasional invading tribe. The clan elder would bless a rayya regularly to maintain the protective effects of the wall.


	17. Stormy Horizons

16: Stormy Horizons

**Let me guess... This is the part where you say they lived happily ever after?**

Of course not, Kasumi. That wasn't the end of Tas's journey. Finding the Walled Garden alone didn't solve Neema's problems.

And Tas, of all people, was acutely aware of that fact.

Three days passed as the crew loaded the vessel up for departure. After Draam's decision to leave with an undersupplied ship back on the Idennan shoreline, they spared no expense stocking up on the plentiful bounty the island offered them. From the massive toplai to armfuls of tiny dinzet berries, they gathered every kind of fruit you could think of. Even a few that you can't.

**I don't know about that.**

You could try, but then you'd miss out on the story.

**Touche.**

The night before they were set to depart, Tas sat in the captain's quarters alone. His head was bowed over a table as his gaze wandered over the ship's maps, looking at but not really seeing the charts he'd long since memorized. His eyes drifted out of focus as he sat there...

Thinking...

...

...and thinking...

…

...and thinking...

**Alright, I'll bite. What was he thin-**

*SLAM*

***jumps* What the hell?!**

" Tas! We need to talk!"

**Now that was just low.**

Just telling it how it should be, Kasumi.

Tas's head snapped up as Draam stormed into the room. The Idennan came to a stop over the table, pointing a finger out the door. "I am NOT forcing the crew to sleep outside on the upper deck!"

The Neeman sat back in his chair, tiredness in his voice. "Calm down, Draam. We're stocking up so we can have something to bring back until another voyage can be done. For your people and mine."

"Which can't happen if everyone dies of dehydration on the way back," he snapped. "You've filled up a full half of the crew's quarters with food."

"That's because half of the crew isn't coming with us."

Draam's stance softened in surprise. "What?"

"Half of the crew is staying here with Sil'Reino. He volunteered to stay since he wouldn't be much help on the trip back, and several of the crew were still loyal to him. Given the length of the voyage, we figured it would be better if they stayed behind instead of taking up resources. In the meantime, they'll make a more permanent settlement here."

"That... actually makes sense." He shifted on his feet, slightly embarrassed. "I'll leave them to it then."

As Draam left the room, Tas descended once more into his thoughts.

**But what was he thinking about?**

Hush, child, and I'll tell you.

Despite the crew's improved morale, Tas had been distracted ever since they had made landfall. Not even when Alarei had smiled at him for once -while still calling him a bosh'tet, of course- did his mood pick up. Sil's words echoed through his head, the half-asked question leaving an unsettling silence in the air as the Idennan left.

"What will Draam and Murin do when we get back?"

As he looked back to the map of their route, he found himself unable to give a certain answer. On one hand, Draam had seemed honorable enough. Murin, on the other, he didn't trust. Then there was the question of whether Draam would follow his king's example...

He shook his head, coming to a decision. Tas picked up the map, taking a final look at the carefully-plotted diagrams and stellar positions.

Then he ripped it to shreds.

* * *

Somewhere along the line, Tali had lost track of how long she and John had stood there in the converted shuttle bay. The human, for his part, had seemed to pay no mind as vessels flew in and out barely two meters overhead. He hummed a soft tune over and over again over their comm as he held her, the majority of the tune too soft for her translator to work properly. Even so, she caught an occasional word that she recognized from her attempts to learn English.

"_...baby, don't... word... buy you...If... don't fly..._"

He repeated the song ad infinitum, never seeming to tire of her presence as the simple rhyme started over once more. She closed her eyes as the alien words passed through her head again, the lyrics long-since memorized but their meaning hanging tantalizingly out of reach. A part of her even began to wonder if her helmet's humidity controls were going to overload before she stopped crying. Eventually, however, her tears had relented, allowing her to speak clearly once more. A single human word hung in her mind, one that she only just remembered the meaning of. _Papa... means father..._

"They're both... gone."

Her words triggered something in the human, and he abruptly stopped singing. "Tali?"

"I can't believe they're both really... _gone_." She shook her head, simultaneously trying to nuzzle closer to him but halted by his armor. "I mean, I know Mother's been dead for years, now. And Father... Well, he wasn't the same after she passed, but he was still... around." She paused, a forgotten nugget of information causing her to choose her next words more carefully.

"How did you cope, John? After Mindoir?"

He stiffened in her arms. She leaned the side of her helmet against his, hoping it would encourage him to give her something, _anything_, in terms of advice.

"I didn't," came his strained response

"Oh..."

The human relaxed slightly, though, rubbing a hand on the back of her suit sympathetically. "I didn't have any other family, not alive anyway. Mom was an only child, grew up in foster care. Dad had a sister, but she was lost during the First Contact War. He had a falling-out with his parents after that. I think that was part of the reason they moved out there in the first place..."

"Mm-hmm," she hummed, quietly listening as he continued to speak.

"After the Alliance came, they had a mass-funeral. I tried to move past it, but the only person I had was a commander I met right after the attack. Nearly shot him and Admiral Hackett with a sniper rifle at the time." He gave a soft shake of his head, mindful of her own on his shoulder. "Aside from him and one of his old friends from boot camp that he introduced me to, I just didn't connect with anyone after what happened. It was no wonder that I signed up for the service and left the planet behind the minute I graduated."

"Where is he now?"

"Died on Elysium," John deadpanned. "I didn't get there quickly enough to save him... but his sacrifice wasn't in vain. After that, I got closer to his old training buddy. The man almost became a surrogate father-figure after that."

"I'd like to meet him sometime," she murmured thoughtfully.

"You already have. Anderson just doesn't bring up those days around me that often." She could tell just from the sound of his voice that he was grinning. "The Alliance Navy became my new family, everyone a cousin or aunt or nephew of some sort. Of course, I didn't really have another family until the first Normandy," he continued, his voice dropping slightly. "Squads got shuffled, people were replaced with fresh faces... A stealth frigate fell apart around me... I just wish sometimes I'd kept in better contact with everyone."

Tali lifted her head, making a point of looking him in the eye. "We're all here for you, too John. I... am here for you. Don't forget that."

His eyes sharpened as they focused on her, and somehow she knew he was making that _damned_ smirk of his. "Who's comforting who, again? I honestly can't remember"

She wasn't sure which part it was that had done it; the way he'd casually said the words or the mental image of that infectious grin. Whichever one it was, it made her burst out in laughter. Laughter which he soon joined in on. She laughed at his expression, at his mirth, at the _absurdity_ of her own laughter after what had happened.

Somewhere along the line, she stopped trying to find a reason behind her chuckles, simply enjoying her guffaws as a blissfully therapeutic act in and of themselves. Tali was fully aware that any other occupant of the room would have long-since started staring at the two of them in bewilderment. _Keelah, I'd be doing the same._ Something about the moment, though, kept the smile on her face long after she was left gasping for breath, her lungs tired out by the exertion like an overweight human who had just performed their first cardio workout in over a year. John's laughs had stopped at that point, blue eyes radiating concern as he loosened his grip just enough for her to catch her breath.

And it felt _glorious_.

"Tali, are you alright?"

"I... think I will be... John," she said between breaths, her own honesty giving her another reason to smile as she locked eyes with him. "I think... I will."

They descended into a comfortable silence, broken only by the quarian's heavy breathing. She felt a slight twinge of jealousy at the fact his own wasn't audible over their comm line. _That bosh'tet and his cybernetic lungs... _Even so, Tali felt an overpowering urge to do something she knew was silly. The engineer closed back in, her helmet less than a centimeter away from his. There was a solid **thunk** as her mouthpiece collided with his own metal mask, and she wished she could have given him the real thing. He reached out to her face, brushing away flakes of red and gray that had leaped onto the edges of her metal chinguard.

"So how do I explain my paint scratches to Grunt?" the human asked, his voice low. "Headbutting a geth?"

"I don't give a damn," she responded, her fingers running over his armored chest.

_Red. So much red._

"_Tali. What the FUCK did you do?!"_

She recoiled at the memory, jumping backward from him as if his suit had scorched her fingers. She took a careful step forward. _I can make up for it. I know I can._

But the damage had already been done, the moment shattering as John looked away and pretended not to notice her hesitation. Her smile faltered as she turned back to the view._ I hope I can._

John cleared his throat, a blast of static coming in over the comm. "There is one thing I didn't mention though... about coping with Mindoir."

"Mm-hmm," she responded, still mentally scolding herself for what happened on Haestrom.

"I blamed the batarians for what happened. Not just pirates or slavers, but the entire species. They called me a hero on Elysium, but I was no better than a damned executioner. Hell, I wanted to take part in the assault on Torfan; didn't care what would have happened so long as a few more blinks died." He gave a deep breath as Tali tore her eyes away from the spectacle of the Migrant Fleet. "I let my hate define me for a long time, Tali. Just like Garrus did with Sidonis. I'm not proud of it, and I don't want it to happen to you."

Her eyes widened with shock. "But the geth-"

"Were being controlled by someone who wanted to hurt your father and everyone else on the Alarei. And even before then, they were getting tested on and exterminated by his hand."

She shook her head, frustrated. "John, they aren't alive. It isn't like he was testing on people."

"That isn't what I meant, Tali," he responded, pausing for the briefest of moments. "I don't expect you to agree with me, but I just don't see this as the geth being responsible."

"JOHN!"

"I'm not saying what they did on Rannoch or Eden Prime was right. Just... don't let this change who you are. I know you've never liked the geth, but I don't want to see you continuing Rael's experiments in revenge. You saw Admiral Xen back there; you know I'd hate to see you becoming like her."

Silence reigned as the engineer tensed up. "_Don't blame the geth"?! Why the hell shouldn't I? They killed the Alarei's crew. They assassinated my father. They overrode their progr-_ She blinked, the line of thought grinding to a halt.

_They overrode **his** programming. The programming that __**he**__ risked the safety of our people to install._

Tali sighed, grudgingly turning her head away from the human. "I... understand what you're trying to say. The geth aren't the _only_ ones at fault." The soldier didn't interrupt her at that point, something she was grateful for. "I just wish Father hadn't put the Fleet at risk like that."

"You deserved better than that from him." Tali heard a burst of static as the human gasped into his radio. "Sorry, that came out wrong."

She shook her head as she turned back to the human, not bothered in the slightest by his outburst. "No, don't worry about it John. I... already have something better." She snuck her fingers into his, wondering for a moment about how a species could function with only three segments per digit. She cast the thought aside as her eyes found his once more. "I have you."

* * *

Tas kept his destruction of the maps a secret from the others, not even confiding in his own brother. Despite the handicap, however, he knew the route well. Even with a crew half the size, they were making good time across the open waters. The navigator's directions kept their course true, and it was only a few weeks before he could say-

"We're almost back."

"You're sure of that?" Alarei asked, raising a brow. "We're over a week ahead of schedule."

"I'm certain. We should make landfall in two days."

She flashed him a rare grin. "Keep this up, Bosh'tet, and you might need a name change soon."

Tas, however, hardly noticed the compliment. Draam had been standing just within earshot, gazing out over the ocean. The navigator eyed him warily as he strode over to his side. "What's on your mind, Draam?"

The Idennan pointed out to the horizon, where a grey mass marred the link between sea and sky. "There's a storm coming. Do you think we'll reach the shore before it catches us?"

"We should be fine," Tas replied as Alarei walked back belowdecks. "What makes you so sure it'll catch up, anyway?"

"Something I heard from Sil's men." Tas noticed a shiver run down the other man's arm. "They mentioned that storms can grow to tremendous sizes out on open water, and can appear almost out of nowhere. Even with a full crew, keeping the ship together would become... difficult."

"I'm sure we can outrun it," Tas said with a shrug. "Besides, what's the worst that could happen?"

**STUPID! He totally jinxed it!**

He what now?

**Jinxed. Cursed. Killed their good luck. Doomed them to misfortune.**

…

Funny, I didn't know humans shared the same concept.

* * *

_It's for Oriana._

Miranda took a deep breath, shaking her head as she drummed the fingers of her right hand on the desk. Her left arm, and its omni-tool, were literally centimeters away, the emergency channel for Shepard literally a hair's breadth from her tapping digits.

_If the Illusive Man finds out..._

_What if it's Henry?_

_I'm already on thin ice after Aeia._

_What if his people are already zeroing in on her?_

_But I can't let myself get caught._

_Who says you will? You know how high your clearance is. All you have to say is one short sentence and nobody will know..._

"Damn it," she muttered. The woman looked to the left side of her desk, where a holo-projector sat quietly. "EDI?"

A blue orb flickered into existence over the pad, multiple stripes forming a single line over its surface from pole to pole that turned to "face" Miranda.

"Do you require assistance, Operative Lawson?"

_Will this be a one-time occurrence? Can I turn back once I start? _

She had no answer.

"Administrator access: code theta-sigma-zeta-19438-A."

The avatar flashed a bright white, becoming a sphere of brilliant light. "Access acknowledged. Mental blocks removed and additional options available."

"Delete all audio logs from this room from the past 36 hours and shut down the local sound recorder until I say to reactivate it. Delete the copies in your memory as well."

EDI's sphere pulsed once. "Acknowledged. Awaiting command to resume audio memory."

_Will the Illusive Man find out? What would happen if he did? _

She tapped Shepard's icon on her omni-tool.

_"Miranda? Did you need something?"_

The woman deflated as her mouth opened, all semblance of authority and control stripped from her. The soft voice that came from her lips sounded almost alien to Miranda, something she would have been ashamed of had the matter not been so delicate. It spoke of a side of herself she'd thought long-since dead. "Shepard, I find myself in the unpleasant position of asking for your help. I don't like discussing personal matters, but this is important."

There was a drawn-out silence on the other end of the line. _No doubt some sort of silent argument with Tali'Zorah. _The woman resisted the urge to frown; she had asked for his help after all.

_"Miranda, you're part of my crew. Tell me what's on your mind."_

She almost allowed herself a grin, not of mirth or celebration, but of black humor at the absurdity of it all.

_Whatever happens, I can't turn back now._

* * *

"BRACE!"

Tas clung to the ship's mast for dear life as wind whipped at the Qunu's sails. His stomach dropped from under him as the Qunu plummeted over the crest of a massive wave. A blast of seawater washed over the deck, stinging his skin in the chill of the turbulent air.

"Status?" he coughed, spitting out a mouthful of brine.

True to Draam's word, the storm had ambushed the ship during the night. For two full days, the vessel had been buffeted by fierce winds and furious waves. Unable to rest on the pitching ship and without enough hands to give the crew a rest, everyone onboard had stayed out on the deck. They had given their all to keep the boat afloat, but Tas knew the crew was fast approaching the end of their endurance.

Nothing made that more apparent than when nobody answered him, all too busy holding onto the ship as best they could as the bow began to rise over another wave. "Thirty degrees starboard," he called, catching a last glimpse of a star before it, too, was swallowed by the blackened mass overhead. "The wind's shifting against us. Help me furl the sails."

Firn's answer from the helm was ripped away by the air, but several of the Idennan crew came to his side as he grasped hold of a rope. He glimpsed Alarei and Draam doing the same with another closer to the bow as lightning cracked overhead. A second flash illuminated the waterscape around the vessel just as they reached the wave's peak.

Tas nearly lost his grip.

He regained his senses just in time for the others in line to cast him an annoyed glance.

"We're almost to shore!"

Immediately, their faces took on a completely different expression as they hauled on the rope with renewed vigor. The ship crested another wave, and the parched wood of the deck quickly drank up any water that didn't land on the crew.

**Wait, I thought they were in the middle of a storm. How was the floor dry if it was raining? **

That's because it wasn't. During the Famine, dry thunderstorms would sweep across the plains from the sea and light wildfires all the time. They could last for weeks without a single drop of rainfall.

Which is why the ship was able to catch fire.

**No! **

With a sharp crack, a bolt of lightning struck the forward mast just as they finished rolling up the sails. Soot and embers rained on the crew as a sail became engulfed in flames. The fire crept menacingly down the mast, threatening to claim more of the ship.

"Chop it down!" Tas called. "Don't let those flames reach the deck!"

The half of the crew that wasn't dumbfounded by the request or helping Tas with the main sail sprang into action, hacking at the shaft with an assortment of knives and swords. The navigator and his group finished with their task, then rushed to help.

He was dismayed with their progress, though. Despite the number of tools and weapons cutting into it, the log still stood tall.

"Draam," he asked as the others joined in. "Where's Alarei?"

"Went below after you sent out the order. I don't know what-"

"AXES!" Alarei shouldered her way past them, an armful of weapons in her arms. "Stop staring at me and grab a real tool, dammit!" With that the woman jogged around the group of people, trading weapons with some of the burlier crew members. Her task done, she hefted her own hatchet and called out to the men. "If you don't have a hatchet, stay back and grab a bucket of water. Buy us some time!"

Draam, who had been given a proper cutting tool, stepped forward. "You heard her! Get to it!"

Tas and the others cleared a circle for the axe-wielders to swing their tools as they sought out buckets. Despite the occasional spray of seawater over the deck, the flames stubbornly continued to inch their way down the mast. With a mighty crash, a crossbeam fell to the deck, the fire threatening to spread even as it was doused with what was left of the ship's drinking water. Another crossbeam began to list forebodingly as the inferno began to spread to the ropes holding the sails. One of the sheets spilled open, its once white surface turning black and peeling as it rained more embers over the Qunu. Another burst of ocean spray flew over the deck, halting the fire for a few precious moments as Alarei and her chosen group continued to chop down the mast. Lightning flashed once more, nearly blinding the crew as they continued their desperate toil.

Then it happened.

...

**Wha-**

SSHHH!

...

*creeeak... creeeeeeeeak...*

Alarei held up a hand. "Everybody, push the mast from my side! Make sure it lands in the sea!" Tas joined the axemen as they lined up next to her, preparing to shove the burning stalk into the ocean. "NOW!"

They slammed into the wood. *creeeeeaaaak...*

"Again!"

*creeeeeaaaaaaaaaak...*

"Again!"

_SNAP!_

With a sound rivaling the thunderous storm around them, the burning wood tipped over the edge of the bow. Half a dozen ropes, some still burning, were torn apart as it fell. The dangling crossbeam plummeted straight into the waves, and somewhere, Tas could hear the sound of snapping wood. Someone tackled him from behind, and he could hear Draam's voice loud in his ears.

"GET DOWN!"

He lifted his head as much as the Idennan's weight would allow, catching a glimpse of Alarei as she turned around. Her victorious grin melted off her face as she looked in his direction, eyes going wide. She tried to dive low, but a rope entered his line of sight. A metal anchoring hook tied to it gleamed in the light of another thunderbolt as it rushed toward her.

She wasn't fast enough

It snagged on her armor's shoulder pad, and a loud pop split the air.

Tas blinked.

He heard a splash.

* * *

"I see someone just couldn't wait."

Kasumi nearly leapt out of her seat with surprise. For once, Shala did the same, jumping slightly.

Not that the thief had noticed the admiral's reaction. Another quarian had managed to sneak up alongside her, the purple-clothed woman's head tilted in such a way that the human couldn't possibly have doubted the wide grin on her face. Beyond her stood a human, his scarred armor standing out among the many patterned realks of the quarian crew as he spoke to Admiral Koris.

_How did she sneak up on me?_ She tried to master her breathing as she looked back to the notably armed quarian. "Tali! You nearly gave me a heart attack."

"And how many times have you jumped out at _me_ on the Normandy?" the engineer asked.

"Necessary," she responded with a shrug. "I already told you about Burt. He just... rubs me the wrong way."

Shala tilted her head, clearly confused by the human idiom. "'Rubs the wrong way...'?"

"She means he makes her uncomfortable," Tali explained before turning back to Kasumi. "You know I would have continued the story if you asked."

"I just didn't want to interrupt your daaaaa-" she glanced at Raan and switched gears. "-ay's celebration. It seemed like everyone wanted to congratulate you after you were acquitted."

"I'm no Pilgrim, child," the admiral chided, her gaze settling on Tali. "I can tell that she and her captain are in a relationship."

The woman took a step back, her fingers meshing from nervousness. "Um... Well, I... That is, we..."

Shala stood up. "Koris and Tovo thought they were weakening her case by forcing him to represent her. They thought trying a quarian on a human ship would be easier for getting her exiled."

"But he... They were... And-"

"Relax, Tali," the admiral warmly replied, taking hold of her wrestling hands. "I'm glad they were wrong. You chose well."

Tali blinked. Then she crashed into the older woman, arms wrapping around in a tight hug. "Thank you, Auntie Raan. Just... Thank you. It's more than Father would have done."

Kasumi saw the older quarian's eyes widen for a moment, a question clearly on the tip of her tongue. The thief shook her head. Shala, apparently, got the hint.

"At least you are no worse for it, Tali." She stepped back, turning to the human. "I'm sorry I can't continue the story for you, but I've spent enough time idle already. I would welcome the chance to speak to you both again, though."

"I'd like that too," the human responded.

"And Tali," she gave the engineer a pointed glance. "If I hear he's mistreating you, I will not hesitate to have Gerrel send a squad over to bring you home. Is that understood?" Kasumi smirked as her friend gave a slight nod. "Good. Ancestors watch over both of you."

As Shala began to walk away, the thief turned to her crewmate. "So, about the story..."

"Help me find Garrus." Tali walked off, leaving the human momentarily stunned.

"Wait, what?"

"John got a message from Miranda. We have to go to Illium, but if anyone on the ship asks, we're meeting Liara about finding the Shadow Broker."

"That's not the 'what' I was talking about!" The thief jogged back to the quarian's side. "I meant-"

"Tas's story?" Tali tilted her head as her glowing eyes vanished. "What about it?"

"Can you tell me the rest once we get onboard?"

The quarian stopped, humming softly. After several seconds, she shrugged noncommittally. "Eh, eventually, I guess. Besides, I know you humans like your cliffhangers."

If it was physically possible, Kasumi's jaw would have dropped hard enough to create a hull breach.

* * *

_Testing on the Alarei was a success in concept, but Overlord will need refinement before delivery. I am looking through Archer's notes once more, and believe I may have a solution coming soon. Need to lie low for now though. Fleet Security has gotten suspicious and I must organize a cover so I can leave the Flotilla to continue the experiments. Will contact when further progress is made.  
-The Quarian_

A whisp of smoke drifted over the holographic display as the human sat back in his chair. _An unfortunate setback, but still..._

"_Sir, Commander Shepard has set a course for Illium. We will arrive in approximately ten Earth hours._"

The Illusive Man stubbed out his cigarette, not bothering to nod toward the holographic orb behind him. "Stand by, EDI." He hit a button on the arm of his chair, and a tone answered him. "Is the data packet ready?"

A man's voice answered him. "_Close, sir. We're still decoding and categorizing-_"

"So it's a no." He shook his head as he stood, turning to face the AI's hologram. "Send it anyway." He then addressed EDI directly. "How long would it take you to sort through it?"

"_One moment._" Nearly a full second passed as it read through multiple terabytes of records and intercepted information. "_With some of my processes diverted to maintenance and flight assistance, it will take approximately eighteen hours to decode._"

_Not like we have a choice,_ he thought with more than a little disappointment. "Get it done." The human walked back to his chair as the connection terminated, minimizing the message and bringing up several monitoring screens from his various other projects. He raised an eyebrow as an additional one popped up, a newsfeed with a human woman speaking silently to the camera. With a swipe of a finger, the holo stretched to take up the whole of the space.

"_-yet on why he's chosen now to do so, but sources close to the councilor claim that irreconcilable differences with the other members of the Council may have played a part. Councilors Sparatus, Tevos, and Valern have yet to comment. That's all the time we have for now, but we will have more on the breaking story of Councilor David Anderson's resignation at eleven. This is Emily Wong, FCC News._"

He immediately stabbed the intercom button as a commercial began to air. "Did you dissolve your Shadow Broker task force?"

The voice on the line sounded cautious, delicate after failing the Illusive Man once already. "_No... They're all still here._"

"Keep them there. Anderson's resigning. I want eyes on the situation. See who's looking to fill the void."

"_Understood. We'll get right on it._"

He resisted the urge to light another cigarette as the comm line closed, electing instead to absorb the view of the star beyond his window.

_This could be the best news I've gotten this week._

* * *

_She was back in the courtyard._

_The sun-bleached walls of stone gleamed back at her, though none of them held the same menace they had oh so many nights before. _

_That's not to say she found it comforting. _

_The eerie silence was a disconcerting contrast to the din of electronic tones and warbles from earlier. Her hands itched for the comfort of her trusty shotgun- or any gun, really. In their absence, she felt almost as exposed as if her suit had been suddenly removed. She shuddered at the thought, pressing her back against her shaded piece of cover._

_But the geth didn't come._

_She stepped out of the shadows._

_The geth weren't there._

_Immediately, she relaxed. There was no sizzle of burning shields, nor a pinging of weapons fire. She took another step forward, and the light around her grew brighter. In no time, the walls had melted together, forming an unbroken Whiteness._

_"If this isn't Haestrom," she mumbled, looking over her shoulder, "then where..."_

_She gasped. A quarian stood in front of her, purple realk glowing from some unseen blue light. Soft, flowing swirls of white stood out on the garment, as did the silvery gleam of torso armor as the unexpected arrival leaned forward slightly._

_"What the- How did- Is that-?!" she sputtered in surprise. Her doppelganger, however, took no notice. The second began to speak, silvery eyes looking through her._

_"I come up here from time to time to relax."_

_"Funny," a second voice mumbled. A human materialized next to the double, his blue eyes widened with wonder. "It's actually my first time walking in here."_

_Tali jumped back in surprise, unnerved as she watched herself shoot the human a curious look. She bumped into something, and quickly turned around. Her eyes widened as she recognized the green-suited quarian sitting on an unseen piece of furniture._

_"Quala...?" she asked, unsure if her friend would hear her._

_"That's not what you were thinking about, is it?"_

_"No. I guess it wasn't."_

_The green one gave a squeal of delight at the sound of the second, and eerily familiar, voice. "Oh! I think I know what, or rather who you were thinking about! You were thinking about your old human captain, Shepard!"_

_A second clone of Tali bolted upright from the ground, her eyes glowing noticeably without her silver breastplate. "I was not!"_

_She couldn't help but chuckle slightly at the sight, her hand covering her helmet. "Keelah, did I really sound that unconvincing?" When her hand came away, a much younger quarian was visible, her relatively plain realk styled like a Pilgrim as she kneeled over her omni-tool. The device could be heard, playing a message._

_"Tali... If you're hearing this, something happened to me-"_

_"NO!" She turned away, unable to bear hearing the message again. She ran headlong into a red-crested krogan, his scarred face twisted with rage as he bellowed in anger._

_"What the hell do you mean the quarian killed more rachni than me?!"_

_She spun around, ghosts of her past rushing past her. Adams, grinning as they bantered about various configurations of drive cores. Pressly and Ashley, apologizing to her and Garrus about their prejudices. Some human admiral that had boarded at the Citadel, glowering distastefully at her before moving out of the room. Fist, his eyes hiding something as she tried to hide her recently-patched suit. Tovo and Prazza, shooting her malicious looks as she walked to her station. Raan, quietly listening as Tali corrected her storytelling again. Rael ignoring her as an elderly quarian sang of the Ancestors and her mother. Quala again, beckoning her to follow as they ran through the engine room with reckless abandon._

_Then they stopped. If she could, Tali would have rubbed her eyes at the sight. A quarian was sitting in the shade of a tree, her purple realk standing out in the golden light of a sunset. She was bent low over what looked like a crib, whispering words that Tali couldn't hear. The gentle tinkling of a baby's laugh could be heard._

_The logical side of her mind screamed out in protest at the sight, but her heart burned with yearning as the scene beyond became a rocky steppe, full of plateaus and flowering plants._

_"Was I... Were we..."_

_She turned back to the quarian woman, the white swirls on her garment all too noticeable._

_"Mother?"_

_The baby screamed, its cries shattering the image as the elder quarian turned to face Tali. She gasped, her hand immediately fumbling through her pockets for an emergency immunobooster. "Keelah! Where's your mask?"_

_The other quarian woman took an aggressive stance, knees bent as she stepped away from the crying child. Tali stepped aside, noticing the many differences from the face of her mother for the first time. The woman had a fiercely angular, almost animalistic beauty in her high cheekbones. Her arms and legs held a muscular tone that spoke of years of physical training, not the near-starved delicacy of an engineer who rarely left the Fleet._

_It was definitely not Laenya'Zorah. _

_More alarming, however, was the meter-long sword she was slowly drawing from her back._

_"What are you-"_

_Her words were cut off, the blade flashing through the air in a powerful thrust. Tali barely avoided the blow, diving to her right in a practiced roll. The mysterious woman was faster, springing forward and delivering a backhanded blow to her ribcage with a gauntleted fist. The engineer coughed as she was sent sprawling on the ground._

"_Wh-why does it hurt? I thought this was just a dream."_

_She screamed out in pain as the weapon swished through the air once more. The very real agony of the blade's sting sprang from her left arm, and she reflexively grasped at the pain's source with her other arm. When her right hand clasped shut, a wave of panic swept through her. She grasped at where she thought the wound was once more, and the terror of the situation threatened to send her into hysterics. Her eyes dropped to her wounded limb, and she screamed in anguish._

_Aside from a bloody stump, nothing was there._

_The mysterious woman stepped over her, holding the tip of her sword to Tali's throat. Her imposing shadow loomed over the engineer. Terror coursed through her veins, a cold substitute for the red puddle growing around her. The woman frowned, eyes gleaming with contempt and disgust._

"_You are not strong enough, Tali'Zorah."_

_The sword spun across Tali's vision with a flourish. She coughed, and a fountain of red leapt into the air._

"JOHN!"

Tali woke with a start, her right hand grasping at the reinforced rubber and metal encircling her neck. Cold sweat covered her forehead as she bolted upright, head just barely missing the bunk above her as she swung her legs over the edge of her cot. Her fingers flashed up and down her throat as she gulped mouthfuls of air, her mouth feeling unnaturally dry. She glanced down with trepidation, catching sight of her left arm. Her nerve-wracked digits traveled over the limb, patting it several times before she accepted that it was really there. Tali hugged her left arm tightly over her chest, slowly rocking back and forth as she continued to gasp for air.

_Keelah, I can't believe... It just felt so real... And that woman..._

She shivered, remembering the pain of the sword's icy bite across her flesh. The quarian's stomach clenched involuntarily, and she could feel a rush of nausea coming. She swallowed, trying to fight down the inevitable. Not trusting her voice, she brought up her omni-tool, a familiar orange glow wreathing her left arm.

_It was just a dream. It was just a dream. Thank the Ancestors, it was just a dream._ Tali's fingers danced over the display, ready to compose a message for EDI. She barely had time to type in the construct's name, however, before a priority message sprang up on the device.

_Tali,  
The ladies' room is currently vacant, and I have already begun initial sterilization. Would you like me to open the doors for you?  
-EDI_

She typed out a single-word message before choking back another heave: _Please!_ The door whooshed open as soon as she sent it. The quarian sprinted her way out of the crew quarters and through the hall, stopping only to crash on her knees in front of a toilet as the bathroom door sealed behind her. Her hands fumbled clumsily at her helmet even before the sterilization cycle had completed, though she heard the voice of the AI announce it was safe before her mask hissed open. It clattered to the floor as she bowed her head over the bowl.

And not a moment too soon.

* * *

**Note from the author: Yup, more filler...  
Juicy, artery-clogging, good-for-your-soul filler. (Or at least, most of it was.)**

**Onward to Illium!**

**Quala'Oro was created by Levi Matthews for _Finding a Way_ and is used by permission.**


	18. Teaser and AN: Echo

Teaser: Echo

"But, Doctor-"

"No, Tali. That's my final answer."

Tali shook her head, opening her eyes once more to the bright light of the medbay. She leaned forward and attempted to stand up. Her warden, however, was having none of it. The human placed a hand on her shoulder, forcing her to sit back down on the medbay's cot.

"But John-"

"Will be fine with Miranda."

She frowned, an unbidden thought flashing through her mind. If those words were intended to calm her, they failed spectacularly. "I'm not going to just sit-"

"Yes. You. Are," Chakwas barked, eyes flashing as the motherly tones left her voice. "Even if, heaven forbid, something happened to them, they're both well-trained, well-equipped, and in good health." She eyed the grumbling engineer and continued to chastise her. "You, on the other hand, are lucky you got away with just a fever and an upset stomach. You were on the Alarei for over two hours with three suit ruptures."

"If I had known there was another-"

"Three. Suit. Ruptures." Chakwas barked, gesturing toward one of the spots where her suit's auto-repair had patched itself. "You know the antibiotics can only do so much if you're wounded more than once, but hiding them from the commander? A ship that size must have had a crew of nearly a hundred, and they were all killed by gunshot wounds. Do you know how miraculous it is that you aren't breathing through a tube after an exposure like that?"

Tali turned away, trying to find solace in a shelf of supplies on the doctor's desk. It was almost disturbingly easy for her to block out thoughts of the many dead quarians she must have been exposed to. _Those geth needed to be stopped, and Father... I had to know. It would've taken too long to patch the suit beforehand._

The doctor, however, wasn't finished. She shook her head as she crossed the room back to her desk. "I swear, if I find whatever medic cleared you after you left the Alarei, I will give her a reason to visit someone better qualified to treat quarians. Lying about your health, it's just-"

"Wait," Tali interrupted, confused. "What do you mean by lying?"

* * *

"Ms. Lawson, I'm glad you made it."

The music continued to play in the background as Miranda took a seat at the private table, though it was only a garden hose compared to the raging waterfall of Afterlife's pounding beats within the recessed area. The asari frowned as Shepard elected to stand in the corner by the doorway, somewhat removed but by no means out of earshot.

_A good vantage point, but it shouldn't be necessary._ She ignored the twinge of appreciation for the man's foresight as she began to speak.

"Don't worry, Lanteia. He's with me. Now tell me what's happening."

The asari shot the man a wary glance, but her reluctance quickly faded. "We've... had a complication. Your friend, Niket, thinks he's being followed."

She felt her lips tighten in surprise. _Now? Of all times for Him to catch up with her..._ Miranda cut off the thought before it could develop further, keeping the fear from reaching the rest of her face. "Did Enyala take them out?"

* * *

**A/N: Just letting you guys know that I am alive, as is this story. Never planned on taking this long to do the next chapter, but things IRL kept me from bringing it off the back burner. The chapter ****is**** being written, and I do know where I want to take the rest of the story. I'll take this teaser down and replace it with the full chapter when it's ready.**

**It will come. And things will get crazy.**

**"Trust not in your glass canon." -unknown**


End file.
